https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-14230-w
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Shadows and optical appearance of quantum-corrected black holes illuminated by static thin accretions
School of Physics, Guizhou University, 550025, Guiyang, China
Received:
9
March
2025
Accepted:
24
April
2025
Published online:
9
May
2025
Recently, two new quantum-corrected black hole models satisfying covariance have been proposed within the framework of effective quantum gravity. In this paper, we study how the quantum parameter affects the optical properties of two quantum-corrected black hole models. We first analyze the photon sphere, critical impact parameter, and innermost stable circular orbit as
varies, and constrain
using Event Horizon Telescope data. Additionally, by employing the ray-tracing method to study photon trajectories near the two quantum-corrected black holes, we find that
can reduce the range of impact parameters corresponding to the photon ring and lensed ring. We then examine the optical appearance of these black holes with thin accretion disks, showing
significantly brightens the first model’s image but has little effect on the second. Meanwhile, we demonstrate the contributions of the transfer functions to the observed intensity of direct and lensed ring in the observer’s field of view, which has rarely been separately illustrated in previous studies. Finally, we study the optical appearance of both quantum-corrected black holes under a static spherical accretion model, with results consistent with the above. Therefore, we conclude that the second quantum-corrected black hole is almost indistinguishable from the Schwarzschild black hole, while the first quantum-corrected black hole can be distinguished from the Schwarzschild black hole through its optical appearance.
© The Author(s) 2025
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Funded by SCOAP3.