http://arxiv.org/abs/1811.08148
Astrophysical black hole systems are the ideal laboratories for testing Einstein’s theory of gravity in the strong field regime. We have recently developed a framework which uses the reflection spectrum of black hole systems to perform precision tests of general relativity by testing the Kerr black hole hypothesis. In this paper, we analyze XMM-Newton and NuSTAR observations of the supermassive black hole in the Seyfert 1 galaxy MCG-06-30-15 with our disk reflection model. We consider the Johannsen metric with the deformation parameters $\alpha_{13}$ and $\alpha_{22}$, which quantify deviations from the Kerr metric. For $\alpha_{22} = 0$, we obtain the black hole spin $0.928 < a_* < 0.983$ and $-0.44 < \alpha_{13} < 0.15$. For $\alpha_{13} = 0$, we obtain $0.885 < a_* < 0.987$ and $-0.12 < \alpha_{22} < 1.05$. The Kerr solution is recovered for $\alpha_{13} = \alpha_{22} = 0$. Thus, our results include the Kerr solution within statistical uncertainties. Systematic uncertainties are difficult to account for, and we discuss some issues in this regard.
A. Tripathi, S. Nampalliwar, A. Abdikamalov, et. al.
Wed, 21 Nov 18
63/74
Comments: 10 pages, 7 figures
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