Testing General Relativity with Black Holes

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advancements in testing General Relativity in the strong-field regime using black hole observations, including gravitational waves, X-ray data, and imaging, and discusses future prospects for interstellar experiments.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of current black hole-based tests of General Relativity and explores future directions for more precise testing through interstellar missions.

Findings

Strong-field tests of General Relativity have advanced significantly in the past decade.

Black hole observations are consistent with predictions of General Relativity.

Future interstellar missions could enable more accurate tests of gravity near black holes.

Abstract

The theory of General Relativity has successfully passed a large number of observational tests. The theory has been extensively tested in the weak-field regime with experiments in the Solar System and observations of binary pulsars. The past 10 years have seen significant advancements in the study of the strong-field regime, which can now be tested with gravitational waves, X-ray data, and black hole imaging. Here I summarize the state-of-the-art of the tests of General Relativity with black hole X-ray data and I briefly discuss the long-term vision of the possibility of an interstellar mission to the closest black hole for more precise and accurate tests.