Tests of general relativity in the strong-gravity regime based on X-ray spectropolarimetric observations of black holes in X-ray binaries

Abstract

Although general relativity (GR) has been tested extensively in the weak-gravity regime, similar tests in the strong-gravity regime are still missing. In this paper, we explore the possibility to use X-ray spectropolarimetric observations of black holes in X-ray binaries to distinguish between the Kerr metric and the phenomenological metrics introduced by Johannsen & Psaltis (which are not vacuum solutions of Einstein's equation) and thus to test the no-hair theorem of GR. To this end, we have developed a numerical code that calculates the radial brightness profiles of accretion disks and parallel transports the wave vector and polarization vector of photons through the Kerr and non-GR spacetimes. We used the code to predict the observational appearance of GR and non-GR accreting black hole systems. We find that the predicted energy spectra and energy-dependent polarization degree and polarization direction do depend strongly on the underlying spacetime. However, for large regions of the parameter space, the GR and non-GR metrics lead to very similar observational signatures, making it difficult to observationally distinguish between the two types of models. © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..