Title: Photon rings around warped black holes

Abstract

Abstract The black hole photon ring is a prime target for upcoming space-based VLBI missions seeking to image the fine structure of astrophysical black holes. The classical Lyapunov exponents of the corresponding nearly bound null geodesics control the quasinormal ringing of a perturbed black hole as it settles back down to equilibrium, and they admit a holographic interpretation in terms of quantum Ruelle resonances of the microstate dual to the Kerr black hole. Recent work has identified a number of emergent symmetries related to the intricate self-similar structure of the photon ring. Here, we explore this web of interrelated phenomena in an exactly soluble example that arises as an approximation to the near-extremal Kerr black hole. The self-dual warped AdS ₃ geometry has a photon ring as well as $\mathsf{S}\mathsf{L}(2,\mathbb{R})$ isometries and an exactly calculable quasinormal mode (QNM) spectrum. We show explicitly that the geometric optics approximation reproduces the eikonal limit of the exact scalar QNM spectrum, as well as the approximate ‘near-ring’ wavefunctions. The $\mathsf{S}\mathsf{L}(2,\mathbb{R})$ isometries are directly related to the emergent conformal symmetry of the photon ring in black hole images but are distinct from a recently discussed conformal symmetry of the eikonal QNM spectrum. The equivalence of the classical QNM spectrum—and thus the photon ring—to the quantum Ruelle resonances in the context of a spacetime with a putative holographic dual suggests that the photon ring of a warped black hole is indeed part of the black hole hologram.

Authors:

Kapec, Daniel ;

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Kapec, Daniel"
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0001-5615-4541"

Lupsasca, Alexandru ;

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Lupsasca, Alexandru"
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-1559-6965"

Strominger, Andrew

• Search DOE PAGES for author "Strominger, Andrew"
• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0002-1332-4122"

Publication Date:

Mon Apr 03 00:00:00 EDT 2023

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE

OSTI Identifier:

1968077

Alternate Identifier(s):

OSTI ID: 1959851

Grant/Contract Number:  

de-sc/0007870

Resource Type:

Published Article

Journal Name:

Classical and Quantum Gravity

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Name: Classical and Quantum Gravity Journal Volume: 40 Journal Issue: 9; Journal ID: ISSN 0264-9381

Publisher:

IOP Publishing

Country of Publication:

United Kingdom

Language:

English