Testing the Schwarzschild metric in a strong field region with the Event Horizon Telescope

TL;DR

This paper proposes a parameterized Schwarzschild metric to test deviations from general relativity in the strong field region using Event Horizon Telescope observations of black hole shadows, potentially explaining discrepancies in mass measurements.

Contribution

Introduces a parameterized Schwarzschild metric with a free parameter to explore deviations from GR and discusses its implications for black hole shadow observations.

Findings

The parameter n can differ from 1, indicating deviations from GR.

n≈2 may explain the mass discrepancy in black hole measurements.

Strong field deviations leave observable imprints on black hole shadows.

Abstract

Testing gravity theory in the strong field region becomes a reality due to the observations of gravitational waves and black hole shadows. In this paper, we discuss how to constrain the possible deviations of the classical general relativity with the image of M87* observed by the Event Horizon Telescope. More precisely, we want to know where is the event horizon for a non-rotating black hole. General relativity predicts the horizon is located at the Schwarzschild radius $r_\textrm{s}$, while other gravity theories may give different predictions. We propose a parameterized Schwarzschild metric (PSM) in which the horizon is located at $r=nr_\textrm{s}$, where $n$ is a real free parameter, and prove general relativity with nonlinear electrodynamics allows $n\neq1$. In the weak field region, the PSM is equivalent to the Schwarzschild metric regardless of the value of $n$. In the strong field region, the difference between the PSM and Schwarzschild metric would leave an imprint on the shadow image. We present detailed calculations and discussions on the black hole shadows with large background light source and accretion disk in the PSM framework. More importantly, we point out that $n\approx2$ can be used to explain why the black hole mass measured by the shadow is a factor of about two larger than the previous gas dynamics measurements. If this explanation is confirmed to be right, then this phenomenon, together with the late-time cosmological acceleration, will be very important to test gravity theories.