Image of an accreting general Ellis-Bronnikov wormhole

TL;DR

This paper investigates the gravitational lensing effects, shadow formation, and accretion disk imaging of the general Ellis-Bronnikov wormhole, comparing its observational signatures with those of a Schwarzschild black hole.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of light propagation and image formation in the spacetime of the general Ellis-Bronnikov wormhole, a topic not previously explored.

Findings

Ellis-Bronnikov wormholes produce distinct shadow and lensing signatures.

Comparison shows differences between wormhole and black hole images.

Results may aid future astrophysical observations of compact objects.

Abstract

Gravitational lensing properties of supermassive astrophysical objects, such as black holes and wormholes, provide the realistic way for their discovering and investigating. Various lensing effects in a wormhole spacetime have been widely studied in the literature. One of the most popular object for investigation is the Ellis wormhole which represents the simplest wormhole geometry. The Ellis solution represents only the particular case of a general wormhole solution found independently by Ellis and Bronnikov. Surprisingly but gravitational lensing properties of general Ellis-Bronnikov wormholes are practically not investigated. In this paper we explore in details the propagation of light, forming a shadow and silhouette, and forming an image of accretion disk in the spacetime of the Ellis-Bronnikov wormhole. As well we compare characteristics of images obtained for the Ellis-Bronnikov wormhole with those for the Schwarzschild black hole. This comparison could be useful for future observations of supermassive astrophysical objects.