Shadows and Thin-Disk Images of Kerr-Newman Black Holes in a Bertotti-Robinson Magnetic Field

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the optical properties of Kerr-Newman-Bertotti-Robinson (KN-BR) black holes. We use the separability of null geodesics to analyze unstable spherical photon orbits and determine the radial extent of the photon shell. Because the spacetime is not asymptotically flat, we construct the critical curve on the screen of a finite-distance zero-angular-momentum observer. We then perform backward ray tracing for a geometrically thin and optically thin disk that extends from the outer region to the event horizon, and examine the resulting images, intensity profiles, critical-curve areas, and inner-shadow areas. We find that the genuine neutral Kerr-BR$_0$ and specially charged Kerr-BR$_s$ configurations have nearly identical optical appearances. It is remarkable that for the KN-BR black holes increasing the electric charge reduces the characteristic image size in the Kerr-Newman limit but enlarges it in the magnetized configurations considered here. We also find that the external magnetic field strongly increases the apparent image scale, while the observer inclination affects the inner-shadow area more significantly than the critical-curve area. These results may provide useful theoretical insight for future observations aimed at identifying such exotic magnetized black holes.