General Black Hole Research Articles

The polarisation behaviour of OJ 287 viewed through radio, millimetre, and optical observations between 2015 and 2017

OJ 287 is a bright blazar with century-long observations, and one of the strongest candidates to host a supermassive black hole binary. Its polarisation behaviour between 2015 and 2017 (MJD 57300-58000) contains several interesting events that we re-contextualise in this study. We collected optical photometric and polarimetric data from several telescopes and obtained high-cadence light curves from this period. In the radio band, we collected millimetre-wavelength polarisation data from the AMAPOLA programme. We combined them with existing multi-frequency polarimetric radio results and the results of very long-baseline interferometry imaging with the Global mm-VLBI Array at 86 GHz. In December 2015, an optical flare was seen according to the general relativistic binary black hole model. We suggest that the overall activity near the accretion disk and the jet base during this time may be connected to the onset of a new moving component, K, seen in the jet in March 2017. With the additional optical data, we find a fast polarisation angle rotation of ∼ 210 coinciding with the December 2015 flare, hinting at a possible link between these events. Based on the 86 GHz images, we calculated a new speed of 0.12 mas/yr for K, which places it inside the core at the time of the 2015 flare. This speed also supports the scenario in which the passage of K through the quasi-stationary feature S1 could have been the trigger for the very high-energy gamma-ray flare of OJ 287 seen in February 2017. With the millimetre-polarisation data, we establish that these bands follow the centimetre-band data but show a difference during the time when K passes through S1. This indicates that the millimetre bands trace substructures of the jet that are still unresolved in the centimetre bands.

Exceptional Point and Hysteresis in Perturbations of Kerr Black Holes.

We employ the isomonodromic method to study linear scalar massive perturbations of Kerr black holes for generic scalar masses Mμ and generic black hole spins a/M. We find that the longest-living quasinormal mode and the first overtone coincide for (Mμ)_{c}≃0.370 4981 and (a/M)_{c}≃0.999 466 0. We also show that the longest-living mode and the first overtone change continuously into each other as we vary the parameters around the point of degeneracy, providing evidence for the existence of a geometric phase around an exceptional point. We interpret our findings through a thermodynamic analogy.

Gravitational waves of nonextremal Kerr black holes from conformal symmetry

In the low-energy limit, the near region of a generic Kerr black hole has been conjectured to be holographically dual to a two-dimensional conformal field theory. In this paper, we consider a test object orbiting in the near region of a nonextremal Kerr black hole. We first couple it to a massless scalar field. The resulting scalar radiation at the horizon is computed from the perspectives of gravity and dual conformal field theory. Considering the influence of nonzero temperature, the agreement of both computations is found. Then, we generalize the analysis to the gravitational radiation and find agreement again. The agreement supports the conjectured holography and provides a potential theoretical tool for gravitational wave computations. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Evolution of creases on the event horizon of a black hole merger

A generic black hole merger occurs through a restructuring of creases (sharp edges) on the event horizon. This process is studied for a black hole merger in the limit of infinite mass ratio, for which constructing the event horizon reduces to finding a null hypersurface that asymptotes to a Rindler horizon in the Kerr spacetime. Geometrical properties of the creases on this horizon are determined and the results are compared with the predictions of an exact local description of the event horizon in a generic merger. The crease set is shown to have finite area. A recently proposed expression for the gravitational entropy of a crease is shown to diverge at the instant of merger. Caustics on (and off) the event horizon are determined by exploiting the correspondence with the problem of gravitational lensing by a Kerr black hole. Caustics form an “astroid tube” in spacetime, two edges of which lie on the event horizon of the merger. Perturbative expressions for the location of this tube are presented, extending previous work to much higher perturbative order. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Navigating Unknowns: Deep Learning Robustness for Gravitational-wave Signal Reconstruction

We present a rapid and reliable deep-learning-based method for gravitational-wave (GW) signal reconstruction from elusive, generic binary black hole mergers in LIGO data. We demonstrate that our model, AWaRe, effectively recovers GWs with parameters it has not encountered during training. This includes features like higher black hole masses, additional harmonics, eccentricity, and varied waveform systematics, which introduce complex modulations in the waveform’s amplitudes and phases. The accurate reconstructions of these unseen signal characteristics demonstrate AWaRe's ability to handle complex features in the waveforms. By directly incorporating waveform reconstruction uncertainty estimation into the AWaRe framework, we show that for real GW events, the uncertainties in AWaRe's reconstructions align closely with those achieved by benchmark algorithms like BayesWave and coherent WaveBurst. The robustness of our model to real GW events and its ability to extrapolate to unseen data open new avenues for investigations in various aspects of GW astrophysics and data analysis, including tests of general relativity and the enhancement of current GW search methodologies.

Accretion mechanism for regular black holes with asymptotically Minkowski Cores and improved Schwarzschild black holes

In this paper, we investigate the fascinating implications of the accretion process for two different kinds of black holes. A detailed analysis of the moving fluid in this accretion process is provided. The radial velocity u(r), the energy density ρ(r), speed of sound a2s and the mass accretion rate Ṁ of the regular black holes and improved Schwarzschild black hole are explored. Interestingly, we consider the most generic black hole space–times with isotropic fluid for this accretion process. The required and necessary physical behaviors around the black holes, such as the radial velocity, the energy density of the moving fluid within the scope of dust, stiff fluid and quintessence, are achieved. Our findings suggest that critical parameters like l in regular black holes, Γ in improved Schwarzschild black holes and the state parameter k are responsible for the accretion mechanism.

Novel signal-consistency test for gravitational-wave searches of generic black hole binaries

Novel signal-consistency test for gravitational-wave searches of generic black hole binaries

Comments on the double cone wormhole

In this paper we revisit the double cone wormhole introduced by Saad, Shenker and Stanford (SSS), which was shown to reproduce the ramp in the spectral form factor. As a first approximation we can say that this solution computes Tr[e−iKT], a trace of the “evolution” operator that generates Schwarzschild time translations on the two sided wormhole geometry. This point of view leads to a simple way to compute the normalization factor of the wormhole. When we have bulk matter fields, SSS suggested using a modified evolution \\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\widetilde{K}$$\\end{document} which involves a slightly complex geometry, so that we are really computing \\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$${\ ext{Tr}}\\left[{e}^{-i\\widetilde{K}T}\\right]$$\\end{document}. We argue that, for general black holes, the spectrum of \\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\widetilde{K}$$\\end{document} is given by quasinormal mode frequencies. We explain that this reproduces various features that were previously predicted from the spectral form factor on hydrodynamics grounds. We also give a general algebraic construction of the modified boost in terms of operators constructed from half sided modular inclusions. For the special case of JT gravity, we work out the backreaction of matter on the geometry of the double cone and find that it deforms the geometry in an undesirable direction. We finally give some comments on the possible physical interpretation of \\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\widetilde{K}$$\\end{document}.

Gravitational radiations of Kerr black hole from warped symmetries

The warped conformal symmetries have been found in the covariant phase space of a set of non-trivial diffeomorphism near the Kerr black hole horizon. In this paper, we consider the retarded Green’s function and the absorption probability for the scalar and higher spin perturbations on a generic non-extreme Kerr black hole background, and perform their holographic calculations in terms of the warped CFT. This provide further evidence on the conjecture that the warped CFT is relevant to the microstate description of the Kerr black hole.

Corrections to the Bekenstein-Hawking Entropy of the HNUTKN Black Hole Due to Lorentz-Breaking Fermionic Einstein-Aether Theory.

A hot NUT-Kerr-Newman black hole is a general stationary axisymmetric black hole. In this black hole spacetime, the dynamical equations of fermions at the horizon are modified by considering Lorentz breaking. The corrections to the Hawking temperature and Bekenstein-Hawking entropy at the horizon of the black hole are studied in depth. Based on the semiclassical theory correction, the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of this black hole is quantum-corrected by considering the perturbation effect of the Planck constant ℏ. The latter part of this paper presents a detailed discussion of the obtained results and their physical implications.

Monodromy approach to pair production of charged black holes and electric fields

To find the pair production, absorption cross section and quasi-normal modes in background fields, we advance the monodromy method that makes use of the regular singular points of wave equations. We find the mean number of pairs produced in background fields whose mode equations belong to the Riemann differential equation and apply the method to the three particular cases: (i) charges near the horizon of near-extremal black holes, (ii) charges with minimal energy under the static balance in nonextremal charged black holes, and (iii) charges in the Sauter-type electric fields. We then compare the results from the monodromy with those from the exact wave functions in terms of the hypergeometric functions with three regular singular points. The explicit elaboration of monodromy and the model calculations worked out here seem to reveal evidences that the monodromy may provide a practical technique to study the spontaneous pair production in general black holes and electromagnetic fields.

Photon sphere and quasinormal modes in AdS/CFT

Photon spheres are the characteristic of general black holes, thus are a suitable touchstone for the emergence of gravitational spacetime in the AdS/CFT correspondence. We provide a spectral analysis of an AdS Schwarzschild black hole near its photon sphere. We find that quasinormal modes near the photon sphere reflect the AdS boundary, resulting in a peculiar spectral pattern. Our large angular momentum analysis owes to an analogue to solvable Schrödinger equations such as an inverted harmonic oscillator and the Pöschl-Teller model, with a Dirichlet boundary condition. Through the AdS/CFT dictionary, it predicts the existence of a peculiar subsector in the large angular momentum spectrum of thermal holographic CFTs on a sphere.

Gravitational Larmor precession

Inspired by the reported existence of substantive magnetic fields in the vicinity of the central supermassive black holes in Sagittarius A* and Messier 87*, we consider test particle motion in the spacetime close to a generic spherical black hole in the presence of magnetic fields in its vicinity. Modelling such a spacetime in terms of an axisymmetric, non-rotating Ernst–Melvin–Schwarzschild black hole geometry with appropriate parameters, we compute the geodesic nodal-plane precession frequency for a test particle with mass, for such a spacetime, and obtain a non-vanishing result, surpassing earlier folklore that only axisymmetric spacetimes with rotation (non-vanishing Kerr parameter) can generate such a precession. We call this magnetic field-generated phenomenon Gravitational Larmor Precession. What we present here is a Proof of Concept incipient assay, rather than a detailed analysis of supermassive black holes with magnetic fields in their neighbourhood. However, for completeness, we briefly discuss observational prospects of this precession in terms of available magnetic field strengths close to central black holes in galaxies.

Consistent thermodynamics and topological classes for the four-dimensional Lorentzian charged Taub-NUT spacetimes

In this paper, we derive the consistent thermodynamics of the four-dimensional Lorentzian Reissner-Nordström-NUT (RN-NUT), Kerr–Newman-NUT (KN-NUT), and RN-NUT-AdS spacetimes in the framework of the (psi -mathscr {N})-pair formalism, and then investigate their topological numbers by using the uniformly modified form of the generalized off-shell Helmholtz free energy. We find that these solutions can be included into one of three categories of those well-known black hole solutions, which implies that these spacetimes should be viewed as generic black holes from the perspective of the topological thermodynamic defects. In addition, we demonstrate that although the existence of the NUT charge parameter seems to have no impact on the topological number of the charged asymptotically locally flat spacetimes, it has a remarkable effect on the topological number of the charged asymptotically locally AdS spacetime.

Distinct topological configurations of equatorial timelike circular orbit for spherically symmetric (hairy) black holes

Topology is a promising approach toward to the light ring in a generic black hole background, and equatorial timelike circular orbit in a stationary black hole background. In this paper, we consider the distinct topological configurations of the timelike circular orbits in static, spherically symmetric, and asymptotic flat black holes. By making use of the equation of motion of the massive particles, we construct a vector with its zero points exactly relating with the timelike circular orbits. Since each zero point of the vector can be endowed with a winding number, the topology of the timelike circular orbits is well established. Stable and unstable timelike circular orbits respectively have winding number +1 and -1. In particular, for given angular momentum, the topological number of the timelike circular orbits also vanishes whether they are rotating or not. Moreover, we apply the study to the Schwarzschild, scalarized Einstein-Maxwell, and dyonic black holes, which have three distinct topological configurations, representations of the radius and angular momentum relationship, with one or two pairs timelike circular orbits at most. It is shown that although the existence of scalar hair and quasi-topological term leads to richer topological configurations of the timelike circular orbits, they have no influence on the total topological number. These results indicate that the topological approach indeed provides us a novel way to understand the timelike circular orbits. Significantly, different topological configurations can share the same topology number, and hence belong to the same topological class. More information is expected to be disclosed when other different topological configurations are present.

Semiclassical instability of inner-extremal regular black holes

The construction of black hole spacetimes that are regular (singularity-free) is plagued by the ``mass inflation'' instability, a classical perturbation instability induced by the surface gravity at the inner horizon and characterized by exponentially diverging stress energy there. Recently, a class of ``inner-extremal'' regular black holes was proposed that possesses a vanishing inner horizon surface gravity and therefore avoids mass inflation, while still maintaining a horizon separation and a nonzero outer-horizon surface gravity. However, when semiclassical effects are taken into account, it is found that an inner-horizon instability remains for generic inner-extremal regular black holes formed from collapse. This semiclassical divergence is analyzed from the perspective of both the effective Hawking temperature and the renormalized stress-energy tensor, and its origin and genericity are examined in detail.

Classifying topology of consistent thermodynamics of the four-dimensional neutral Lorentzian NUT-charged spacetimes

In this paper, via employing the uniformly modified form of the generalized off-shell Helmholtz free energy, we investigate the topological numbers for the four-dimensional neutral Lorentzian Taub–NUT, Taub–NUT–AdS and Kerr–NUT spacetimes, and find that these solutions can also be classified into one of three types of those well-known black hole solutions, which implies that these spacetimes should be viewed as generic black holes from the viewpoint of the thermodynamic topological approach.

Aligned fields double copy to Kerr-NUT-(A)dS

We find Abelian gauge fields that double copy to a large class of black hole spacetimes with spherical horizon topology known as the Kerr-NUT-(A)dS family. Using a multi-Kerr-Schild prescription, we extend the previously-known double copy structure for arbitrarily rotating general dimension black holes, to include NUT charges and an arbitrary cosmological constant. In all cases, these single copy gauge fields are ‘aligned fields’, because their nonzero components align with the principal tensor which generates the Killing structure of the spacetime. In five dimensions, we additionally derive the same single-copy field strengths via the Weyl double copy procedure.

Hidden conformal symmetry for dyonic Kerr-Sen black hole and its gauged family

Motivated by advanced progress in the holographic theory between rotating black holes and CFT, we explore the conformal invariance on dyonic Kerr-Sen black hole and its gauged family. We consider a neutral massless scalar probe on the black holes’ background within the low-frequency limit and exhibit that the solution space possesses SL(2,R)times SL(2,R) isometry. The periodic identification of the azimuthal angle corresponds to the spontaneous conformal symmetry breaking by temperatures T_L,T_R. Using the computation of the central charges on Sakti and Burikham (Phys Rev D 106:106006, 2022) that we recalculate by considering the contributions of all associated fields, we successfully derive the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy from Cardy entropy formula. Furthermore, we also calculate the absorption cross-section from gravity side for generic non-extremal dyonic Kerr-Sen black hole and near-extremal gauged dyonic Kerr-Sen black hole. Our calculations show that those quantities are in a perfect match with the calculation from CFT. Therefore, our findings further support the duality between rotating black holes and CFTs.

The Markov gap in the presence of islands

The Markov gap [1], namely the difference between reflected entropy and mutual information, is explicitly computed in the defect extremal surface model, JT gravity, and the generic 2d extremal black holes, in vacuum states. The phases that contain various island contributions are considered, and their existence is carefully checked. Moreover, we show explicitly how the Markov gap originates from the OPE coefficient of the boundary CFT. And, as a generalization of [1], the lower bound of the Markov gap is given by frac{C}{3} log 2 times the number of EWCS boundaries on minimal surfaces. We propose a boundary way of counting the lower bound for the Markov gap, which states that the lower bound is given by frac{C}{3} log 2 times the number of gaps between two boundary regions in vacuum states. We discuss the limitation and possible generalization of the boundary counting, and its relation to tripartite entanglement.