arXiv subjects

Kajol Paithankar

Publications and source records attributed to Kajol Paithankar.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Time delay as a probe of multiple photon spheres

Black hole shadow images are primarily determined by the properties of photon spheres and can exhibit degeneracies across different spherically symmetric spacetime geometries. We show that time delay observables associated with higher-order images of transient sources provide a robust probe to break such degeneracies in spacetimes admitting multiple photon spheres. Adopting a model-independent, parametrized, static, spherically symmetric framework that captures the generic features of double-peaked effective potentials, we investigate photon geodesics and quantify them in terms of angular deflection, travel time, and the order of the image. We identify distinctive signatures of trajectories probing the region between the unstable photon spheres. In particular, we find that these trajectories are characterized by the nontrivial temporal behavior, including a minimum travel time, a minimum angular deflection, and a characteristic triplet structure of higher-order images with a specific arrival sequence. We further show that the influence of the depth of the potential well, between the two photon spheres, on the observed time delays provides a direct handle on otherwise inaccessible regions of the spacetime. Our results highlight that time-domain lensing observables encode information beyond static shadow images and offer a promising avenue for probing the structure of compact objects and the strong-field regime of gravity.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2025

Photon region boundary for stationary axisymmetric black holes

The black hole shadow is fundamentally connected to the structure of light rings and the photon region in the background geometry. We investigate the photon region boundary in a generic asymptotically flat, stationary, axisymmetric black hole spacetime that admits spherical photon orbits (SPOs). Explicit expressions possessing real solutions are provided for the photon region's boundary purely in terms of the background metric functions, independent of the photon's parameters like energy or angular momentum, which are applicable to both separable and non-separable spacetimes. We further analyze its common features, including overlap with the ergoregion and rotation sense of SPOs. Additionally, light rings are identified at the extrema of the photon region boundary curves in the $(r,θ)$ plane. Our approach is validated against a few exact black hole solutions. Implications are discussed.

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arXiv2023

Black hole shadow and acceleration bounds for spherically symmetric spacetimes

We explore an interesting connection between black hole shadow parameters and the acceleration bounds for radial linear uniformly accelerated (LUA) trajectories in static spherically symmetric black hole spacetime geometries of the Schwarzschild type. For an incoming radial LUA trajectory to escape back to infinity, there exists a bound on its magnitude of acceleration and the distance of closest approach from the event horizon of the black hole. We calculate these bounds and the shadow parameters, namely the photon sphere radius and the shadow radius, explicitly for specific black hole solutions in $d$-dimensional Einstein's theory of gravity, in pure Lovelock theory of gravity and in the $\mathcal{F}(R)$ theory of gravity. We find that for a particular boundary data, the photon sphere radius $r_{ph}$ is equal to the bound on radius of closest approach $r_b$ of the incoming radial LUA trajectory while the shadow radius $r_{sh}$ is equal to the inverse magnitude of the acceleration bound $|a|_b$ for the LUA trajectory to turn back to infinity. Using the effective potential technique, we further show that the same relations are valid in any theory of gravity for static spherically symmetric black hole geometries of the Schwarzschild type. Investigating the trajectories in a more general class of static spherically symmetric black hole spacetimes, we find that the two relations are valid separately for two different choices of boundary data.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2020

The role of Unruh effect in Bremsstrahlung

An equivalence is demonstrated, by an explicit first order quantum calculation, between the Minkowski photon emission rate in the inertial frame for an accelerating charge moving on a Rindler trajectory with additional transverse drift motion and the combined Rindler photon emission and absorption rate of the same charge in the Rindler frame in the presence of the Davies Unruh thermal bath. The equivalence also extends, for the Bremsstrahlung emitted by the same charge as calculated using the machinery of classical electrodynamics. The equivalence is shown to also hold for the case of accelerating charges moving on a Rindler trajectory with additional arbitrary transverse motion. Our results generalise those of Higuchi et. al. (1992) and of Cozzella et. al. (2017) for accelerated trajectories with circular transverse motion. Related issues and experimental implications are discussed.

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arXiv2019

Rindler horizons in the Schwarzschild spacetime

We investigate the past and future Rindler horizons for radial Rindler trajectories in the Schwarzschild spacetime. We assume the Rindler trajectory to be linearly uniformly accelerated (LUA) throughout its motion, in the sense of the curved spacetime generalisation of the Letaw-Frenet equations. The analytical solution for the radial LUA trajectories along with its past and future intercepts ${\cal C}$ with the past null infinity ${\cal J^-}$ and future null infinity ${\cal J^+}$ are presented. The Rindler horizons, in the presence of the black hole, are found to depend on both the magnitude of acceleration $|a|$ and the asymptotic initial data $h$, unlike in the flat Rindler spacetime case wherein they are only a function of the global translational shift $h$. The horizon features are discussed. The Rindler quadrant structure provides an alternate perspective to interpret the acceleration bounds, $|a| \leq |a|_b$ found earlier in arXiv:1901.04674.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2019

Bound on Rindler trajectories in Black Hole spacetime

We investigate radial Rindler trajectories in a static spherically symmetric black hole spacetime. We assume the trajectory to remain linearly uniformly accelerated throughout its motion, in the sense of the curved spacetime generalisation of the Letaw-Frenet equations. For the Schwarzschild spacetime, we arrive at a bound on the magnitude of the acceleration $|a|$ for radially inward moving trajectories, in terms of the mass $M$ of the black hole given by $|a| \leq 1/(\sqrt{27} M)$ for a particular choice of asymptotic initial data $h$, such that, for acceleration $|a|$ greater than the bound value, the linearly uniformly accelerated trajectory always falls into the black hole. For $|a|$ satisfying the bound, there is a minimum radius or the distance of closest approach for the radial linearly uniformly accelerated trajectory to escape back to infinity. However, this distance of closest approach is found to approach its lowest value of $r_b = 3M $, greater than the Schwarzschild radius of the black hole, when the bound, $|a| = 1/( \sqrt{27}M)$ is saturated. We further show that a finite bound on the value of acceleration, $ |a| \leq B(M,h)$ and a corresponding distance of closest approach $r_{b} > 2M$ always exists, for all finite asymptotic initial data $h$.

gr-qc↗