Maximum observable blueshift from circular equatorial Kerr orbiters

QUEST Center event
No
Speaker
Shahar Hadar, Oranim (Haifa University)
Date
23/11/2021 - 17:30 - 16:00Add to Calendar 2021-11-23 16:00:00 2021-11-23 17:30:00 Maximum observable blueshift from circular equatorial Kerr orbiters The region of spacetime near the event horizon of a black hole can be viewed as a deep potential well at large gravitational redshift relative to distant observers. However, matter orbiting in this region travels at relativistic speeds and can impart a significant Doppler shift to its electromagnetic emission, sometimes resulting in a net observed blueshift at infinity. Thus, a black hole broadens the line emission from monochromatic sources in its vicinity into a smoothly decaying “red wing”—whose flux vanishes at large redshift—together with a “blue blade” that retains finite flux up to a sharp edge corresponding to the maximum observable blueshift. In the talk, I will describe the blue blade produced by isotropic monochromatic emitters on circular equatorial orbits around a Kerr black hole, and outline how the maximum blueshift simply encodes black hole spin and inclination. These results bear direct relevance to ongoing and future observations aiming to infer the angular momenta of supermassive black holes from the broadening of their surrounding line emission. Nano Building (206), 9th Floor, Seminar Room B991 המחלקה לפיזיקה physics.dept@mail.biu.ac.il Asia/Jerusalem public
Place
Nano Building (206), 9th Floor, Seminar Room B991
Abstract

The region of spacetime near the event horizon of a black hole can be viewed as a deep potential well at large gravitational redshift relative to distant observers. However, matter orbiting in this region travels at relativistic speeds and can impart a significant Doppler shift to its electromagnetic emission, sometimes resulting in a net observed blueshift at infinity. Thus, a black hole broadens the line emission from monochromatic sources in its vicinity into a smoothly decaying “red wing”—whose flux vanishes at large redshift—together with a “blue blade” that retains finite flux up to a sharp edge corresponding to the maximum observable blueshift. In the talk, I will describe the blue blade produced by isotropic monochromatic emitters on circular equatorial orbits around a Kerr black hole, and outline how the maximum blueshift simply encodes black hole spin and inclination. These results bear direct relevance to ongoing and future observations aiming to infer the angular momenta of supermassive black holes from the broadening of their surrounding line emission.

תאריך עדכון אחרון : 21/11/2021