The Nature of Black Hole Shadows

Abstract: A distinct visual signature occurs in black holes that are surrounded by optically thin and geometrically thick emission regions. This signature is a sharp-edged dip in brightness that is coincident with the black-hole shadow, which is the projection of the black hole's unstable-photon region on the observer's sky. We highlight two key mechanisms responsible for producing the sharp-edged dip: i) the reduction of intensity observed in rays that intersect the unstable-photon region, and thus the perfectly absorbing event horizon, versus rays that do not (blocking), and ii) the increase of intensity observed in rays that travel along extended, horizon-circling paths near the boundary of the unstable-photon region (path-lengthening). We demonstrate that the black-hole shadow is a distinct phenomenon from the photon ring, and that models exist in which the former may be observed, but not the latter. Additionally, we show that the black-hole shadow and its associated visual signature differ from the more model-dependent brightness depressions associated with thin-disk models, because for geometrically thick and optically thin emission regions, the blocking and path-lengthening effects are quite general. Consequentially, the black-hole shadow is a robust and fairly model-independent observable for accreting black holes that are in the deep sub-Eddington regime, such as low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGN).