Advancing Fundamental Physics and Cosmology with high-resolution X-ray imaging
Abstract
Black Holes are the key to solving many unanswered questions in fundamental physics: in particular, the very extreme properties shown by supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies make them obvious candidates for testing gravity theories in the strong-field regime. Since X-rays are generated by matter under extreme physical conditions, ultra-high resolution X-ray imaging (uXRI) will directly image the region near the event horizon of black holes in X-rays, similar to the Event Horizon Telescope in the radio band, enabling unprecedented tests of General Relativity and alternative theories of gravity near supermassive black holes. On the other hand, clusters of galaxies hold the potential of unveiling many unknowns in cosmology. uXRI will unlock this potential by probing small-scale plasma properties in the intracluster medium, providing the missing link required to establish galaxy clusters as reliable tools for high-precision cosmology. Moreover, uXRI will enable mapping of Dark Matter from galaxy cluster dynamics via proper motion measurements. Finally, uXRI will open a new field of precision X-ray astrometry, allowing for measuring pulsar parallaxes to support nanoHertz gravitational wave searches.
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BibTeX
@misc{turriziani2026advancing,
title = {{Advancing Fundamental Physics and Cosmology with high-resolution X-ray imaging}},
author = {Sara Turriziani and Herman L. Marshall and Daryl Haggard and Scott Randall and Mayura Balakrishnan and Tom Maccarone and Nicole Ford},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.30042},
eprint = {2608.30042},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.30042},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Advancing Fundamental Physics and Cosmology with high-resolution X-ray imaging
AU - Sara Turriziani
AU - Herman L. Marshall
AU - Daryl Haggard
AU - Scott Randall
AU - Mayura Balakrishnan
AU - Tom Maccarone
AU - Nicole Ford
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/30
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.30042
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.30042
AB - Black Holes are the key to solving many unanswered questions in fundamental physics: in particular, the very extreme properties shown by supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies make them obvious candidates for testing gravity theories in the strong-field regime. Since X-rays are generated by matter under extreme physical conditions, ultra-high resolution X-ray imaging (uXRI) will directly image the region near the event horizon of black holes in X-rays, similar to the Event Horizon Telescope in the radio band, enabling unprecedented tests of General Relativity and alternative theories of gravity near supermassive black holes. On the other hand, clusters of galaxies hold the potential of unveiling many unknowns in cosmology. uXRI will unlock this potential by probing small-scale plasma properties in the intracluster medium, providing the missing link required to establish galaxy clusters as reliable tools for high-precision cosmology. Moreover, uXRI will enable mapping of Dark Matter from galaxy cluster dynamics via proper motion measurements. Finally, uXRI will open a new field of precision X-ray astrometry, allowing for measuring pulsar parallaxes to support nanoHertz gravitational wave searches.
ER -