Iron K$\alpha$ line of Kerr black holes with scalar hair

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the iron K$ extalpha$ line in X-ray reflection spectra can be used to detect or constrain scalar hair in Kerr black holes, combining theoretical models with simulations of current and future observations.

Contribution

It introduces a method to measure scalar hair in Kerr black holes using X-ray reflection spectroscopy and demonstrates current data can already constrain the scalar hair parameter.

Findings

Current observations can constrain the scalar hair parameter q.

Black holes with q close to 1 produce distinguishable iron lines.

Future X-ray missions will further improve constraints on scalar hair.

Abstract

Recently, a family of hairy black holes in 4-dimensional Einstein gravity minimally coupled to a complex, massive scalar field was discovered~\cite{hbh}. Besides the mass $M$ and spin angular momentum $J$, these objects are characterized by a Noether charge $Q$, measuring the amount of scalar hair, which is not associated to a Gauss law and cannot be measured at spatial infinity. Introducing a dimensionless scalar hair parameter $q$, ranging from 0 to 1, we recover (a subset of) Kerr black holes for $q=0$ and a family of rotating boson stars for $q=1$. In the present paper, we explore the possibility of measuring $q$ for astrophysical black holes with current and future X-ray missions. We study the iron K$\alpha$ line expected in the reflection spectrum of such hairy black holes and we simulate observations with Suzaku and eXTP. As a proof of concept, we point out, by analyzing a sample of hairy black holes, that current observations can already constrain the scalar hair parameter $q$, because black holes with $q$ close to 1 would have iron lines definitively different from those we observe in the available data. We conclude that a detailed scanning of the full space of solutions, together with data from the future X-ray missions, like eXTP, will be able to put relevant constraints on the astrophysical realization of Kerr black holes with scalar hair.