I will discuss the first 3D-general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulation of sustained accretion onto a horizonless singularity in which matter falls onto the central object rather than being accumulated outside of it or expelled in outflows. We consider a Joshi-Malafarina-Narayan JMN-1 type spacetime, a well-motivated black hole mimicker arising from gravitational collapse with anisotropic pressure in general relativity, with a compactness parameter resulting in a null type central singularity. We find that the simulation reaches a sustained magnetically arrested disk state. For the parameters of the low-luminosity active galactic nucleus system M87* we find the accretion rate of (3-5) x 1e-6 MEdd, fully consistent with the estimates driven by the Kerr GRMHD, and in particular comparable with our reference Schwarzschild black hole simulation. Synthetic raytraced images at 230 GHz, computed through polarized general relativistic radiative transfer, are broadly consistent with the observations of M87* by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). We identified a key observational discriminant between a black hole and JMN-1, related to the presence of brightness in the images inside the “shadow” of JMN-1. This brightness is related to emission located very close to the central singularity, in the region that would be blocked by the event horizon in case of a black hole spacetime. Such a signature, while inaccessible to current EHT observations, falls within the projected imaging dynamic range of the near-future radio-interferometric instruments, offering a robust observational test of the black hole paradigm.
Accretion beyond the black hole paradigm: a light from within the shadow
Next Seminar
Event horizon termination and the emergence of Lorentz signature
Next Journal Club
Discussion of the paper "Nonlinear Stability of Black Holes with a Stable Light Ring", by Guangzhou Guo et al.
Black Hole Workshops
Next workshop:
XVIII Black Holes Workshop, Lisbon, 2025
18-19 December 2025
Previous workshops in the series:
I Black Holes Workshop, Porto, 2008
II Black Holes Workshop, Lisbon, 2009
III Black Holes Workshop, Minho, 2010
IV Black Holes Workshop, Aveiro, 2011
V Black Holes Workshop, Lisbon, 2012
VI Black Holes Workshop, Minho 2013
VII Black Holes Workshop, Aveiro 2014
VIII Black Holes Workshop, Lisbon 2015
IX Black Holes Workshop, Minho 2016
X Black Holes Workshop, Aveiro 2017
XI Black Holes Workshop, Lisbon, 2018
XII Black Holes Workshop, Minho, 2019
XIII Black Holes Workshop, Lisbon, 2020
XIV Black Holes Workshop, Aveiro, 2021
XV Black Holes Workshop, Lisbon, 2022
XVI Black Holes Workshop, Porto, 2023
XVII Black Holes Workshop, Aveiro, 2024
Numerical data
NewFunFICO network
Our group coordinates the Marie Sklodowska Curie Staff Exchange NewFunFiCO network (Jan 2023- Dec 2026)
More info here
FunFiCO Network
Our group coordinates the Marie Curie RISE FunFiCO network (Dec 2017- Dec 2023)
More info here
EuCAPT Consortium
GWVerse COST
StronGrHEP Network
Our group was part of the RISE StronGrHEP network (2016-2019)
Meetings:
Paris, 12-13 May 2016
Azores, 3-8 July 2017
Osaka, 4-8 September 2017
NRHEP Network Meetings
Our group coordinated the "Numerical Relativity and High Energy Physics" IRSES network (2012-2015). Here is a list of the global network meetings organized:
First Meeting:
9-13 July 2012, Aveiro, Portugal
Second Meeting:
11-14 March 2013, Lisbon, Portugal
Third Meeting:
6-10 January 2014, Mississippi, USA
Fourth Meeting:
7-10 July 2015, Rome, Italy
Fifth Meeting:
28 Sep-2 Oct 2015, Belém, Brazil
Ph.D. and Post-doctoral opportunities
Contact us If you are interested in pursuing graduate studies/research in our group.
Information for prospective Ph.D. students can be found here.
Past Ph.D. theses from our group can be found here.
Working as a researcher in Portugal - a quick guide.
Good Research Practices for New PhD students - a quick guide.