Adaptive polygon rendering for interactive visualization in the Schwarzschild spacetime

Abstract

Abstract Interactive visualization is a valuable tool for introductory or advanced courses in general relativity as well as for public outreach to provide a deeper understanding of the visual implications due to curved spacetime. In particular, the extreme case of a black hole where the curvature becomes so strong that even light cannot escape, benefits from an interactive visualization where students can investigate the distortion effects by moving objects around. However, the most commonly used technique of four-dimensional general-relativistic ray tracing is still too slow for interactive frame rates. Therefore, we propose an efficient and adaptive polygon rendering method that takes light deflection and light travel time into account. An additional advantage of this method is that it provides a natural demonstration of how multiple images occur and how light travel time affects them. Finally, we present our method using three example scenes: a triangle passing behind a black hole, a sphere orbiting a black hole and an accretion disk with different inclination angles.