Constraining modified gravity theories with scalar fields using black-hole images

TL;DR

This paper investigates how black hole images, like those from the EHT, can constrain modified gravity theories predicting scalar-haired black holes, showing imaging as a powerful tool for testing deviations from general relativity.

Contribution

It analyzes black hole shadows in various scalar-tensor theories, demonstrating the potential of EHT observations to constrain or favor scalar hair solutions over GR.

Findings

Black hole images can constrain deviations from GR.

Scalarized black holes may be favored in some parameter regimes.

Shadow radius varies with scalar hair parameters.

Abstract

We study a number of well-motivated theories of modified gravity with the common overarching theme that they predict the existence of compact objects such as black holes and wormholes endowed with scalar hair. We compute the shadow radius of the resulting compact objects and demonstrate that black hole images such as that of M87$^*$ or the more recent SgrA$^*$ by the Einstein Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration may provide a powerful way to constrain deviations of the metric functions from what is expected from general relativity (GR) solutions. We focus our attention on Einstein-scalar-Gauss-Bonnet (EsGB) theory with three well motivated couplings, including the dilatonic and $Z_2$ symmetric cases. We then analyze the shadow radius of black holes in the contest of the spontaneous scalarization scenario within EsGB theory with an additional coupling to the Ricci scalar (EsRGB). Finally, we turn our attention to spontaneous scalarization in the Einstein-Maxwell-Scalar (EMS) theory and demonstrate the impact of the parameters on the black hole shadow. Our results show that black hole imaging is an important tool for constraining black holes with scalar hair and for some part of the parameter space, black holes solutions with scalar hair may be marginally favoured compared to solutions of GR.