Testing general relativity with accretion onto compact objects

Ilaria Caiazzo; Jeremy Heyl; Adam R. Ingram; Tomaso Belloni; Edward Cackett; Alessandra De Rosa; Marco Feroci; Daniel S. Swetz; Andrea Damascelli; Pinder Dosanjh; Sarah Gallagher; Luigi Gallo; Daryl Haggard; Craig Heinke; Kelsey Hoffman; Demet Kirmizibayrak; Sharon Morsink; Wolfgang Rau; Paul Ripoche; Samar Safi-Harb; Gregory R. Sivakoff; Ingrid Stairs; Luigi Stella; Joel N. Ullom

arXiv · 1903.06760

Testing general relativity with accretion onto compact objects

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Abstract

The X-ray emission of neutron stars and black holes presents a rich phenomenology that can lead us to a better understanding of their nature and to address more general physics questions: Does general relativity apply in the strong gravity regime? Is spacetime around black holes described by the Kerr metric? This white paper considers how we can investigate these questions by studying reverberation mapping and quasi-periodic oscillations in accreting systems with a combination of high-spectral and high-timing resolution. In the near future, we will be able to study compact objects in the X-rays in a new way: advancements in transition-edge sensors (TES) technology will allow for electron-volt-resolution spectroscopy combined with nanoseconds-precision timing.

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Ilaria Caiazzo, Jeremy Heyl, Adam R. Ingram, Tomaso Belloni, Edward Cackett, Alessandra De Rosa, Marco Feroci, Daniel S. Swetz, Andrea Damascelli, Pinder Dosanjh, Sarah Gallagher, Luigi Gallo, Daryl Haggard, Craig Heinke, Kelsey Hoffman, Demet Kirmizibayrak, Sharon Morsink, Wolfgang Rau, Paul Ripoche, Samar Safi-Harb, Gregory R. Sivakoff, Ingrid Stairs, Luigi Stella, Joel N. Ullom. 2019-03-15. Testing general relativity with accretion onto compact objects. https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.06760

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