2011/10/12 by Latham Boyle, Boyle, Latham, Matthew Russo +1
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO) #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) #astro-ph.CO #astro-ph.HE #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1110.2789
4 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2011/10/12 · openalex publication_date 2011/10/12 · arxiv updated 2011/10/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Radiation emitted near a black hole reaches the observer by multiple paths; and when this radiation varies in time, the time-delays between the various paths generate a "blinking" effect in the observed light curve L(t) or its auto-correlation function xi(T)= . For the particularly important "face-on" configuration (in which the hole is viewed roughly along its spin axis, while the emission comes roughly from its equatorial plane -- e.g. from the inner edge of its accretion disk, or from the violent flash of a nearby/infalling star) we calculate the blinking in detail by computing the time delay Delta tj(r,a) and magnification muj(r,a) of the jth path (j=1,2,3,...), relative to the primary path (j=0), as a function of the emission radius r and black hole spin 0