2017/03/31 by Menglei Zhou, Cosimo Bambi, Carlos A. R. Herdeiro +2
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Black hole (networking) #Computer science #Geometry #Line (geometry) #Mathematics #Physics #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Rotating black hole #Scalar (mathematics) #astro-ph.HE #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.95.104035
published as Phys. Rev. D 95, 104035 (2017) · 11 pages, 5 figures. v2: refereed version
arxiv created 2017/05/25 · openalex publication_date 2017/05/25 · arxiv updated 2017/05/29 · openalex created_date 2022/05/12 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We continue our study on the capabilities of present and future x-ray missions to test the nature of astrophysical black hole candidates via x-ray reflection spectroscopy and distinguish Kerr black holes from other solutions of 4-dimensional Einstein's gravity in the presence of a matter field. Here we investigate the case of Kerr black holes with Proca hair [1]. The analysis of a sample of these configurations suggests that even extremely hairy black holes can mimic the iron line profile of the standard Kerr black holes, and, at least for the configurations of our study, we find that current x-ray missions cannot distinguish these objects from Kerr black holes. This contrasts with our previous findings for the case of Kerr black holes with scalar (rather than Proca) hair [2], even though such comparison may be biased by the limited sample. Future x-ray missions can detect the presence of Proca hair, but a theoretical knowledge of the expected intensity profile (currently missing) can be crucial to obtain strong constraints.