Influence of a plasma on the shadow of a spherically symmetric black hole
Аннотация
We analytically calculate the influence of a plasma on the shadow of a black hole (or of another compact object). We restrict to spherically symmetric and static situations, where the shadow is circular. The plasma is assumed to be nonmagnetized and pressureless. We derive the general formulas for a spherically symmetric plasma density on an unspecified spherically symmetric and static spacetime. Our main result is an analytical formula for the angular size of the shadow. As a plasma is a dispersive medium, the radius of the shadow depends on the photon frequency. The effect of the plasma is significant only in the radio regime. The formalism applies not only to black holes but also, e.g., to wormholes. As examples for the underlying spacetime model, we consider the Schwarzschild spacetime and the Ellis wormhole. In particular, we treat the case that the plasma is in radial free fall from infinity onto a Schwarzschild black hole. We find that for an observer far away from a Schwarzschild black hole, the plasma has a decreasing effect on the size of the shadow. The perspectives of actually observing the influence of a plasma on the shadows of supermassive black holes are discussed.