Thin accretion disks in stationary axisymmetric wormhole spacetimes

TL;DR

This study analyzes the properties and emission spectra of thin accretion disks around stationary axisymmetric wormholes, revealing they are more efficient than Kerr black holes and could be distinguished through astrophysical observations.

Contribution

It introduces models of thin accretion disks in wormhole spacetimes and compares their emission characteristics with those of Kerr black holes, highlighting distinctive observational signatures.

Findings

Wormhole disks emit more intense flux than black hole disks with same mass and accretion rate.

Rotating wormholes have higher efficiency in converting accreted mass into radiation.

Distinct electromagnetic signatures could help differentiate wormholes from black holes.

Abstract

In this paper, we study the physical properties and the equilibrium thermal radiation emission characteristics of matter forming thin accretion disks in stationary axially symmetric wormhole spacetimes. The thin disk models are constructed by taking different values of the wormhole's angular velocity, and the time averaged energy flux, the disk temperature and the emission spectra of the accretion disks are obtained. Comparing the mass accretion in a rotating wormhole geometry with the one of a Kerr black hole, we verify that the intensity of the flux emerging from the disk surface is greater for wormholes than for rotating black holes with the same geometrical mass and accretion rate. We also present the conversion efficiency of the accreting mass into radiation, and show that the rotating wormholes provide a much more efficient engine for the transformation of the accreting mass into radiation than the Kerr black holes. Therefore specific signatures appear in the electromagnetic spectrum of thin disks around rotating wormholes, thus leading to the possibility of distinguishing wormhole geometries by using astrophysical observations of the emission spectra from accretion disks.