High Energy Theory Seminar
29 November 2010
Cosimo Bambi (Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the
Universe, The University of Tokyo)
Testing Astrophysical Black Holes
Abstract:
Our galaxy contains a great number of stellar mass compact objects
which are generally thought to be black holes. Precise
x-ray observations of a thermal spectrum of the accretion disk can be
used to determine whether or not these objects are in fact the black
holes predicted by general relativity. The Kerr metric is completely
specified by two parameters: the mass, M, and the spin, J, of the
compact object. All the terms in the multipole moment expansion of the
gravitational field can be immediately deduced from these two
quantities; thus the determination of the quadrupole moment can be used
to test the Kerr nature of astrophysical black hole candidates. In this
talk, I will discuss theoretical studies that allow current
observational data of the X-ray spectrum of stellar-mass black hole
candidates to already put interesting constraints on the interpretation
of these objects.
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