arXiv subjects

Cosimo Bambi

Publications and source records attributed to Cosimo Bambi.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Testing the Weak Equivalence Principle near black holes

Today we have quite stringent constraints on possible violations of the Weak Equivalence Principle from the comparison of the acceleration of test-bodies of different composition in Earth's gravitational field. In the present paper, we propose a test of the Weak Equivalence Principle in the strong gravitational field of black holes. We construct a relativistic reflection model in which either the massive particles of the gas of the accretion disk or the photons emitted by the disk may not follow the geodesics of the spacetime. We employ our model to analyze the reflection features of a NuSTAR spectrum of the black hole binary EXO 1846-031 and we constrain two parameters that quantify a possible violation of the Weak Equivalence Principle by massive particles and X-ray photons, respectively.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Constraining the KRZ deformation parameters I: limits from supermassive black hole X-ray data

X-ray reflection spectroscopy is a powerful technique for probing the nature of gravity around black holes in the so-called strong field regime. One of the most popular of such probes is to look at theory-agnostic deviations away from the Kerr solution, which is the only astrophysically relevant black hole solution within classical general relativity, in order to verify whether astrophysical black holes are described by the Kerr metric. We have recently extended our X-ray reflection spectroscopy framework to a class of very general axisymmetric non-Kerr black holes proposed by Konoplya, Rezzolla & Zhidenko (Phys. Rev. D93, 064015, 2016). Here, we analyze XMM-Newton and NuSTAR observations of the supermassive black hole in the Seyfert 1 galaxy MCG-06-30-15 with six different deviation parameters of this extended model. We recover the Kerr solution in all cases, but some deformation parameters are poorly constrained. We discuss the implications of this verification and future possibilities.

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arXiv2021

Towards precision measurements of accreting black holes using X-ray reflection spectroscopy

Relativistic reflection features are commonly observed in the X-ray spectra of accreting black holes. In the presence of high quality data and with the correct astrophysical model, X-ray reflection spectroscopy can be quite a powerful tool to probe the strong gravity region, study the morphology of the accreting matter, measure black hole spins, and possibly test Einstein's theory of general relativity in the strong field regime. In the last decade, there has been significant progress in the development of the analysis of these features, thanks to more sophisticated astrophysical models and new observational facilities. Here we review the state-of-the-art in relativistic reflection modeling, listing assumptions and simplifications that may affect, at some level, the final measurements and may be investigated better in the future. We review black hole spin measurements and the most recent efforts to use X-ray reflection spectroscopy for testing fundamental physics.

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arXiv2021

A systematic study of photoionized emission and warm absorption signatures of the NLS1 Mrk 335

We present an analysis of all the archival high resolution spectra of the Narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk~335 obtained with Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) on board \textit{XMM-Newton}. The spectra show rich emission and absorption features in low and intermediate flux intervals. We model the emission lines with the \textsc{pion\_xs} grid and try to find any possible correlation between the properties of the emitting gas and the source flux. Current data does not allow detailed trace of the response of the line emitting gas to the X-ray flux of Mrk~335, but the flux of the X-ray lines is significantly less variable than the X-ray continuum. We also find that the warm absorber's properties are not correlated with the flux variability. From the latest \textit{XMM-Newton} observation in 2019 December, we find that the photoionized emission and distant reflection components have not responded to the flux drop of Mrk~335 from 2018 July. However, the possible existence of partial covering absorber in the 2018--2019 low state of Mrk~335 makes it difficult to constrain the scale of the emitting gas using this lack of response.

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arXiv2021

Constraints on Einstein-Maxwell dilaton-axion gravity from X-ray reflection spectroscopy

Einstein-Maxwell dilaton-axion gravity is a string-inspired model arising from the low energy effective action of heterotic string theory and an important candidate as alternative to General Relativity. Recently, some authors have explored its astrophysical implications in the spectra of accreting black holes and inferred the constraint $r_2 < 0.1$, where $r_2 \ge 0$ is the black hole dilaton charge and General Relativity is recovered for $r_2 = 0$. In the present paper, we study the impact of a non-vanishing black hole dilaton charge on the reflection spectrum of the disk. From the analysis of a NuSTAR spectrum of the black hole binary EXO 1846-031, we find the constraint $r_2 < 0.011$ (90% CL), which is an order of magnitude more stringent.

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arXiv2021

Charged particle motion around a magnetized Reissner-Nordström black hole

We investigate the dynamics of neutral and charged test particles around axially symmetric magnetized black hole spacetime. We consider its electromagnetic field in the black hole vicinity and study its impact on the dynamics of test particles. We determine the radius of the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) for neutral and charged test particles and show that the combined effect of black hole electric charge and magnetic field strongly affects the ISCO radius, thus shrinking its values. We also show that the ISCO radius of positively (negatively) charged particle initially gets increased (decreased) and then gets radically altered with an increase in the value of both black hole electric charge and test particle charge. It turns out that the repulsive (attractive) Coulomb force dominates over the Lorentz force arising from the black hole magnetic field. Typically, black hole rotation causes axially symmetric spacetime case. Similarly, it turns out that a magnetized black hole solution also causes axially symmetric spacetime as a consequence of the presence of magnetic field. We study a degeneracy for the value of the ISCO between the Kerr and the magnetized Reissner-Nordström black hole geometries and show that the combined effects of black hole charge and magnetic field can be mimicked by Kerr spacetime with the spin parameter up to $a/M\approx 0.8$. Finally, we consider the center of mass energy of colliding particles and show that an increase in the values of black hole magnetic field and electric charge leads to high center of mass energy extracted by collision of two particles.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Testing General Relativity with black hole X-ray data: a progress report

Einstein's theory of General Relativity is one of the pillars of modern physics. For decades, the theory has been mainly tested in the weak field regime with experiments in the Solar System and observations of binary pulsars. Thanks to a new generation of observational facilities, the past 5 years have seen remarkable changes in this field and there are now numerous efforts for testing General Relativity in the strong field regime with black holes and neutron stars using different techniques. Here I will review the work of my group at Fudan University devoted to test General Relativity with black hole X-ray data.

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arXiv2021

Impact of the disk thickness on X-ray reflection spectroscopy measurements

In a previous paper, we presented an extension of our reflection model RELXILL_NK to include the finite thickness of the accretion disk following the prescription in Taylor & Reynolds (2018). In this paper, we apply our model to fit the 2013 simultaneous observations by NuSTAR and XMM-Newton of the supermassive black hole in MCG-06-30-15 and the 2019 NuSTAR observation of the Galactic black hole in EXO 1846-031. The high-quality data of these spectra had previously led to precise black hole spin measurements and very stringent constraints on possible deviations from the Kerr metric. We find that the disk thickness does not change previous spin results found with a model employing an infinitesimally thin disk, which confirms the robustness of spin measurements in high radiative efficiency disks, where the impact of disk thickness is minimal. Similar analysis on lower accretion rate systems will be an important test for measuring the effect of disk thickness on black hole spin measurements.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Implementation of a radial disk ionization profile in the RELXILL_NK model

Very steep reflection emissivity profiles in the inner part of accretion disks are commonly found in the analysis of X-ray observations of black hole binaries and AGN, but there is some debate about their exact origin. While steep reflection emissivity profiles can be naturally produced by compact coronae close to black holes, the measured radial emissivity parameter can be further increased by the radial disk ionization profile when the theoretical model assumes a disk with constant ionization. In this paper, we implement the possibility of a radial disk ionization profile in the reflection model RELXILL_NK, which is a package designed to calculate reflection spectra of "deformed" Kerr black holes. We analyze a NuSTAR observation of the black hole binary EXO 1846-031, which was previously found to have a very high inner emissivity index. We find that the model with a radial disk ionization profile improves the fit, but the impact on the estimate of the black hole spin parameter and on the constraint of the deformation parameter is modest. However, we show that the analysis of future observations of Athena and eXTP will necessarily require models with a radial disk ionization profile to have accurate constraints of the deformation parameters.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Testing General Relativity with NuSTAR data of Galactic Black Holes

Einstein's theory of General Relativity predicts that the spacetime metric around astrophysical black holes is described by the Kerr solution. In this work, we employ state-of-the-art in relativistic reflection modeling to analyze a selected set of NuSTAR spectra of Galactic black holes to obtain the most robust and precise constraints on the Kerr black hole hypothesis possible today. Our constraints are much more stringent than those from other electromagnetic techniques, and with some sources we get stronger constraints than those currently available from gravitational waves.

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arXiv2021

Astrophysical Wormholes

Wormholes are hypothetical topologically-non-trivial structures of the spacetime. From the theoretical point of view, the possibility of their existence is challenging but cannot be ruled out. This article is a compact and non-exhaustive review of past and current efforts to search for astrophysical wormholes in the Universe.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Impact of the returning radiation on the analysis of the reflection spectra of black holes

A fraction of the electromagnetic radiation emitted from the surface of a geometrically thin and optically thick accretion disk of a black hole returns to the disk because of the strong light bending in the vicinity of the compact object (returning radiation). While such radiation clearly affects the observed spectrum of the source, it is often neglected in theoretical models. In the present paper, we study the impact of the returning radiation on relativistic reflection spectra. Assuming neutral material in the disk, we estimate the systematic uncertainties on the measurement of the properties of the system when we fit the data with a theoretical model that neglects the returning radiation. Our NICER simulations show that the inclination angle of the disk and the black hole spin parameter tend to be overestimated for low viewing angles, while no clear bias is observed for high viewing angles. The iron abundance of the disk is never overestimated. In the most extreme cases (in particular, for maximally rotating black holes) the returning radiation flattens the radial emissivity beyond a few gravitational radii. In such cases, it also produces residuals that cannot be compensated by adjusting the parameters of models neglecting the returning radiation. This may be an important issue for interpretation of data from future X-ray missions (e.g. Athena). When we simulate some observations with NuSTAR and we fit data above 10 keV, we find that some conclusions valid for the NICER simulations are not true any longer (e.g., we can get a high iron abundance).

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arXiv2021

Testing General Relativity with black hole X-ray data: recent progress and future developments

The theory of General Relativity has successfully passed a large number of observational tests. The theory has been extensively tested in the weak-field regime with experiments in the Solar System and observations of binary pulsars. The past five years have seen significant advancements in the study of the strong-field regime, which can now be tested with gravitational waves, X-ray data, and mm Very Long Baseline Interferometry observations. Here I summarize the state-of-the-art of the tests of General Relativity with black hole X-ray data, discussing its recent progress and future developments.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Dynamics of charged particles and magnetic dipoles around magnetized quasi-Schwarzschild black holes

In the present paper, we have investigated the motion of charged particles together with magnetic dipoles to determine how well the spacetime deviation parameter $ε$ and external uniform magnetic field can mimic the spin of a rotating Kerr black hole. Investigation of charged particle motion has shown that the deviation parameter $ε$ in the absence of external magnetic fields can mimic the rotation parameter of Kerr spacetime up to $a/M \approx0.5$. The combination of external magnetic field and deviation parameter can do even a better job mimicking the rotation parameter up to $a/M\simeq0.93$, which corresponds to the rapidly rotating case. Study of the dynamics of magnetic dipoles around quasi-Schwarzschild black holes in the external magnetic field has shown that there are degeneracy values of ISCO radius of test particles at $ε_{cr}>ε\geq 0.35$ which may lead to two different values of the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) radius. When the deviation parameter is in the range of $ε\in (-1,\ 1)$, it can mimic the spin of a rotating Kerr black hole in the range $a/M \in (0.0537, \ 0.3952)$ for magnetic dipoles with values of magnetic coupling parameter $β\in [-0.25,\ 0.25]$ in corotating orbits.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Testing evolution of LFQPOs with mass accretion rate in GRS 1915+105 with Insight-HXMT

Using the Insight-HXMT observations of GRS 1915+105 when it exhibits low frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs), we measure the evolution of the QPO frequency along with disk inner radius and mass accretion rate. We find a tight positive correlation between the QPO frequency and mass accretion rate. Our results extend the finding of previous work with AstroSat to a larger range of accretion rate with independent instruments and observations. Treating the QPO frequency of GRS 1915+105 as the relativistic dynamic frequency of a truncated disk, we are able to confirm the high spin nature of the black hole in GRS 1915+105. We also address the potential of our finding to test general relativity in the future.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Probing the near-horizon region of Cygnus X-1 with Suzaku and NuSTAR

Astrophysical black holes are ideal laboratories for testing Einstein's theory of general relativity in the strong field regime. In this manuscript, we present an analysis of Suzaku and NuSTAR spectra of the black hole binary Cygnus X-1 using RELXILL_NK. Unlike our previous study on Cygnus X-1 with NuSTAR data, here we are able to constrain the Johannsen deformation parameter $α_{13}$. However, despite the high energy resolution near the iron line provided by Suzaku, our constraints on the Kerr metric from Cygnus X-1 are not very stringent in comparison with those that have been obtained from other sources, confirming that Cygnus X-1 is quite a complicated source.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Shining X-rays on asymptotically safe quantum gravity

Asymptotically safe quantum gravity is a promising candidate scenario to provide a UV extension for the effective quantum field theory of Einstein's gravity. The theory has its foundations on the very successful framework of quantum field theory, which has been extensively tested for electromagnetic and nuclear interactions. However, observational tests of asymptotically safe quantum gravity are more challenging. Recently, a rotating black hole metric inspired by asymptotically safe quantum gravity has been proposed, and this opens the possibility of astrophysical tests of the theory. In the present paper, we show the capabilities of X-ray reflection spectroscopy to constrain the inverse dimensionless fixed-point value $γ$ from the analysis of a Suzaku observation of the X-ray binary GRS 1915+105. We compare these constraints with those obtained from black hole imaging.

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arXiv2021

Testing the Kerr Black Hole Hypothesis with GX 339-4 by a combined analysis of its thermal spectrum and reflection features

We analyze simultaneous observations with NuSTAR and Swift of the black hole binary GX 339-4 in which we clearly detect both a strong thermal component and prominent relativistic reflection features. We employ NKBB and RELXILL_NK, which are the state of the art of, respectively, the thermal and reflection models to test the Kerr black hole hypothesis. We obtain unprecedented precise measurements of the Johannsen deformation parameter $α_{13}$: $α_{13} = -0.012_{-0.039}^{+0.011}$ (lamppost coronal geometry) and $α_{13} = -0.010_{-0.018}^{+0.024}$ (broken power-law emissivity profile) at a 90% confidence level, where the Kerr metric corresponds to $α_{13} = 0$. We investigate the systematic uncertainties by fitting the data with different models.

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