Black hole images: A Review

TL;DR

This review summarizes recent advances in black hole imaging, focusing on the features, formation, and physical insights gained from the images of supermassive black holes like M87* and Sgr A*.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of black hole shadow features, image formation mechanisms, and polarization patterns, highlighting their significance for testing gravity theories and understanding black hole physics.

Findings

Black hole shadows reveal key features of event horizons.

Images provide insights into accretion disk properties.

Polarization patterns help probe magnetic fields near black holes.

Abstract

In recent years, unprecedented progress has been achieved regarding black holes' observation through the electromagnetic channel. The images of the supermassive black holes M87$^{*}$ and Sgr A$^{*}$ released by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration provided direct visual evidence for their existence, which has stimulated further studies on various aspects of the compact celestial objects. Moreover, the information stored in these images provides a new way to understand the pertinent physical processes that occurred near the black holes, to test alternative theories of gravity, and to furnish insight into fundamental physics. In this review, we briefly summarize the recent developments on the topic. In particular, we elaborate on the features and formation mechanism of black hole shadows, the properties of black hole images illuminated by the surrounding thin accretion disk, and the corresponding polarization patterns. The potential applications of the relevant studies are also addressed.