Acoustic black holes in a two-dimensional "photon-fluid"

TL;DR

This paper explores how optical field fluctuations in a 2D photon-fluid can mimic curved spacetime and black hole features, enabling simulation of black hole phenomena using optical systems.

Contribution

It introduces a method to simulate black hole geometries and horizons in a photon-fluid system with controllable spacetime properties.

Findings

Photon-fluctuation waves experience effective curved spacetime.

Optical cavity setup can create acoustic ergoregions and horizons.

Proposal for an experiment simulating rotating black hole features.

Abstract

Optical field fluctuations in self-defocusing media can be described in terms of sound waves in a 2D photon-fluid. It is shown that, while the background fluid couples with the usual flat metric, sound-like waves experience an effective curved spacetime determined by the physical properties of the flow. In an optical cavity configuration, the background spacetime can be suitably controlled by the driving beam allowing the formation of acoustic ergoregions and event horizons. An experiment simulating the main features of the rotating black hole geometry is proposed.