Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Physics academic staff member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ali Övgün, in collaboration with a distinguished group of 14 scientists from Cambridge University and various locations worldwide, is exploring the mysterious world of black holes and their shadows. This research, which holds significant potential for reshaping our understanding of the universe, has been published in the high-impact journal Classical and Quantum Gravity by the Institute of Physics, established in 1874 in the United Kingdom (Class. Quant. Grav. 40 (2023) 165007, https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6382/acd97b).

The Team Makes Significant Contributions to Science

The study titled "Horizon-scale tests of gravity theories and fundamental physics from the Event Horizon Telescope image of Sagittarius A*" takes a bold step towards addressing well-motivated deviations from classical General Relativity (GR) black hole solutions, utilizing the impressive capabilities of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). Through observations of the object known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) using the Event Horizon Telescope, the team has made significant progress in relating the size of the bright emission ring to the size of the black hole shadow beneath it. Additionally, the researchers utilized high-precision measurements of the mass-distance ratio of Sgr A* to support their research.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ali Övgün, along with 14 scientists from institutions including Cambridge University in the United Kingdom and the University of California in the United States, explored a range of scenarios that could provide critical insights into the secrets surrounding black holes. Their investigations encompass various regular black holes, spacetimes based on string theory, violations of the strong cosmic censorship conjecture by extra fields, structures like wormholes, alternatives in gravitational theories, and new frameworks in fundamental physics.