Topological data analysis of black hole images

Abstract

Features such as photon rings, jets, or hot spots can leave particular topological signatures in a black hole image. As such, topological data analysis can be used to characterize images resulting from high-resolution observations (synthetic or real) of black holes in the electromagnetic sector. We demonstrate that persistent homology allows for this characterization to be made automatically by counting the number of connected components and one-dimensional holes. Further, persistent homology also allows for the distance between connected components or the diameter of holes to be extracted from the image. In order to apply persistent homology on synthetic black hole images, we also introduce metronization, a new algorithm to prepare black hole images in a form that is suitable for topological analysis. © 2022 American Physical Society.