Polarized image of a Schwarzschild black hole with a thin accretion disk as photon couples to Weyl tensor

TL;DR

This paper investigates how photon-Weyl tensor coupling affects the polarized images of a Schwarzschild black hole with a thin accretion disk, revealing distinctive polarization patterns that could inform black hole physics.

Contribution

It introduces the study of photon-Weyl tensor coupling effects on black hole shadow and accretion disk polarization, a novel aspect in black hole imaging research.

Findings

Photon-Weyl coupling alters black hole shadow and disk polarization patterns.

Polarized intensity is stronger in bright regions near the black hole.

Coupling effects are most prominent close to the black hole in bright regions.

Abstract

We have studied polarized image of a Schwarzschild black hole with an equatorial thin accretion disk as photon couples to Weyl tensor. The birefringence of photon originating from the coupling affect the black hole shadow, the thin disk pattern and its luminosity distribution. We also analyze the observed polarized intensity in the sky plane. The observed polarized intensity in the bright region is stronger than that in the darker region. The stronger effect of the coupling on the observed polarized vector appears only in the bright region close to black hole. These features in the polarized image could help us to understand black hole shadow, the thin accretion disk and the coupling between photon and Weyl tensor.