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Observing the Inner Shadow of a Black Hole: A Direct View of the Event Horizon

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arxiv 2106.00683 v1 pith:NRCRH5XO submitted 2021-06-01 astro-ph.HE gr-qc

Observing the Inner Shadow of a Black Hole: A Direct View of the Event Horizon

classification astro-ph.HE gr-qc
keywords photonblackholeringimagesshadowdirectemission
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved
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Simulated images of a black hole surrounded by optically thin emission typically display two main features: a central brightness depression and a narrow, bright "photon ring" consisting of strongly lensed images superposed on top of the direct emission. The photon ring closely tracks a theoretical curve on the image plane corresponding to light rays that asymptote to unstably bound photon orbits around the black hole. This critical curve has a size and shape that are purely governed by the Kerr geometry; in contrast, the size, shape, and depth of the observed brightness depression all depend on the details of the emission region. For instance, images of spherical accretion models display a distinctive dark region -- the "black hole shadow" -- that completely fills the photon ring. By contrast, in models of equatorial disks extending to the black hole's event horizon, the darkest region in the image is restricted to a much smaller area -- an inner shadow -- whose edge lies near the direct lensed image of the equatorial horizon. Using both semi-analytic models and general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations, we demonstrate that the photon ring and inner shadow may be simultaneously visible in submillimeter images of M87*, where magnetically arrested disk (MAD) simulations predict that the emission arises in a thin region near the equatorial plane. We show that the relative size, shape, and centroid of the photon ring and inner shadow can be used to estimate the black hole mass and spin, breaking degeneracies in measurements of these quantities that rely on the photon ring alone. Both features may be accessible to direct observation via high-dynamic-range images with a next-generation Event Horizon Telescope.

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Cited by 21 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

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  4. Black Hole Photon Rings Saturate the Quantum Chaos Bound

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  13. Shadow signatures and energy accumulation in Lorentzian-Euclidean black holes

    gr-qc 2026-01 unverdicted novelty 5.0

    Lorentzian-Euclidean black holes produce excess inner-shadow intensity and accumulate energy at the horizon with backreaction unlike stable light rings.

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    astro-ph.HE 2025-10 unverdicted novelty 5.0

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    gr-qc 2026-07 conditional novelty 4.0

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    astro-ph.HE 2026-05 unverdicted novelty 4.0

    Kerr-BR black hole images with magnetically coupled synchrotron emissivity show spin- and B-dependent shifts in the inner disk edge, altered lensing rings, and Doppler asymmetries, with retrograde cases displaying wid...

  17. Optical images of Kerr-Sen black hole illuminated by thick accretion disks

    astro-ph.HE 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 4.0

    Increasing charge Q shrinks photon rings and central shadows in Kerr-Sen black hole images while spin creates brightness asymmetry; polarization patterns follow lensing and frame dragging.

  18. Unveiling Inner Shadows and Polarization Signatures of Rotating Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet Black Holes

    gr-qc 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 4.0

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  19. Observational Signatures of Rotating Ay\'{o}n-Beato-Garc\'{i}a Black Holes: Shadows, Accretion Disks and Images

    gr-qc 2026-03 unverdicted novelty 4.0

    Rotating Ayón-Beato–García black holes cast smaller, spin-asymmetric shadows whose diameters, compared with EHT data, bound the nonlinear-electrodynamics charge while leaving Kerr viable.

  20. Observational Signatures of Rotating Ay\'{o}n-Beato-Garc\'{i}a Black Holes: Shadows, Accretion Disks and Images

    gr-qc 2026-03 unverdicted novelty 4.0

    Rotating Ayón-Beato-García black holes produce smaller and sometimes D-shaped shadows whose size constrains the charge parameter ζ to the range 0.132811M–0.213607M when matched to EHT observations of M87* and Sgr A*.

  21. Probing Kalb-Ramond gravity with charged rotating black holes: constraints from EHT observations

    gr-qc 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 3.0

    EHT shadow observations constrain the Lorentz-violating parameter ℓ in Kalb-Ramond gravity for charged rotating black holes to roughly |ℓ| ≲ 0.1-0.2, with an upper bound ℓ ≲ 0.19 from Sgr A*.