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Photon rings and shadows of Kerr black holes immersed in a swirling universe

Rogério Capobianco*

Betti Hartmann† and Nikhita Vas‡

Jutta Kunz§

João Novo∥

  • *Contact author: rogerio.capobianco@gmail.com
  • †Contact author: b.hartmann@ucl.ac.uk
  • ‡Contact author: nikhita.vas.18@ucl.ac.uk
  • §Contact author: jutta.kunz@uni-oldenburg.de
  • ∥Contact author: j.novo@ua.pt
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Phys. Rev. D 113, 064053 – Published 25 March, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/wj2m-s3sv

Abstract

We discuss photon rings around as well as shadows of Kerr black holes immersed in a swirling spacetime (KBHSU). We find that the spin-spin interaction between the angular momentum of the black hole and the swirling of the background leads to new interesting effects as it breaks the symmetry between the upper and lower hemispheres. We find that a pair of light rings exists for all values of the parameter space. Using a topological argument, we prove that there should be, indeed, two light rings and that, additionally, these light rings are unstable. In comparison to the Schwarzschild black hole immersed in a swirling universe, the light rings typically all possess different radii. Interestingly, as the value of the swirling parameter is increased at fixed angular momentum of the black hole, the two disconnected patches of the ergoregions eventually merge. The light ring at this merger possesses no angular velocity (as measured by an observer at infinity) and is called a light point. To our knowledge, this is the first time the existence of such a light point in a black hole spacetime is reported. Finally, we also present the shadows of KBHSU for various parameter values and observe that, due to the presence of the swirling background, the shadows are twisted.

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Phys. Rev. D 113, 064053– Published 25 March, 2026
  • Received 16 October 2025
  • Accepted 13 February 2026
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