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Main Authors: Cao, Li-Ming, Li, Long-Yue, Liu, Xia-Yuan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.13077
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author Cao, Li-Ming
Li, Long-Yue
Liu, Xia-Yuan
author_facet Cao, Li-Ming
Li, Long-Yue
Liu, Xia-Yuan
contents We study the images of black holes by gluing two Schwarzschild spacetimes with a thin shell where the Israel junction conditions are satisfied. By studying the refraction law for null geodesics at the spherical shell, and taking account of the light travel time delay, the images are obtained by ray tracing a geometrically and optically thin accretion disk. For a static shell we identify three signatures: a redshift cusp at the shell, a V-shaped profile of the transfer function $r(b)$, and a loss of the one-to-one correspondence between photon spheres and photon rings on the observer's screen. During the collapse of the shell, the spacetime evolves from a stage with a single photon sphere inside the shell, through an intermediate stage with double photon spheres, and finally to a spacetime with a single photon sphere outside the shell. However, when the shell is released from a large distance, the corresponding images never show two separate photon rings, even in the stage with two photon spheres. In addition, the motion of the shell leads to a discontinuity in the redshift factor. These signatures provide a practical basis for testing the Israel junction in black hole spacetimes.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_13077
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Imaging Signatures of the Israel Junction: Photon Ring Evolution in Dynamical Thin Shell Schwarzschild Spacetimes
Cao, Li-Ming
Li, Long-Yue
Liu, Xia-Yuan
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
We study the images of black holes by gluing two Schwarzschild spacetimes with a thin shell where the Israel junction conditions are satisfied. By studying the refraction law for null geodesics at the spherical shell, and taking account of the light travel time delay, the images are obtained by ray tracing a geometrically and optically thin accretion disk. For a static shell we identify three signatures: a redshift cusp at the shell, a V-shaped profile of the transfer function $r(b)$, and a loss of the one-to-one correspondence between photon spheres and photon rings on the observer's screen. During the collapse of the shell, the spacetime evolves from a stage with a single photon sphere inside the shell, through an intermediate stage with double photon spheres, and finally to a spacetime with a single photon sphere outside the shell. However, when the shell is released from a large distance, the corresponding images never show two separate photon rings, even in the stage with two photon spheres. In addition, the motion of the shell leads to a discontinuity in the redshift factor. These signatures provide a practical basis for testing the Israel junction in black hole spacetimes.
title Imaging Signatures of the Israel Junction: Photon Ring Evolution in Dynamical Thin Shell Schwarzschild Spacetimes
topic General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.13077