Simple Analytic Estimate of Black Hole Shadow Size in an Expanding Universe

TL;DR

This paper develops a simple analytic method to estimate the apparent size of black hole shadows in an expanding universe, linking local strong gravity effects with large-scale cosmological parameters.

Contribution

It introduces an analytic framework combining Schwarzschild and cosmological metrics to relate shadow size to cosmological distance, extending black hole shadow theory to cosmological scales.

Findings

Cosmological expansion effects are negligible for nearby black holes.

The shadow size depends on Hubble constant and cosmological constant at high redshifts.

The approach provides a transparent connection between black hole optics and cosmology.

Abstract

The apparent shadow of a black hole provides one of the most direct probes of strong-field general relativity. While the shadow size in asymptotically flat spacetimes is well understood, the influence of cosmic expansion on its apparent angular diameter remains less explored. In this work, we present a simple analytic framework to estimate the shadow size of a non-rotating black hole embedded in an expanding universe. By combining the local Schwarzschild geometry with large-scale cosmological dynamics through the McVittie and Kottler metrics, we derive a compact relation between the shadow angular size and the angular diameter distance $D_A(z)$. This approach captures the essential dependence on cosmological parameters such as the Hubble constant $H_0$ and the cosmological constant $\Lambda$, while remaining analytically tractable. We further perform numerical estimates to quantify the redshift dependence of the apparent shadow size, showing that the effect of cosmic expansion is negligible for nearby sources but becomes relevant for high-redshift black holes. Our results demonstrate a clear conceptual connection between strong-gravity optics and cosmological expansion, providing a pedagogically transparent and physically motivated extension of black hole shadow theory to a cosmological context.