Gravitational lensing and shadows of dilatonic black holes in dilaton-massive gravity
Shahid Chaudhary (Research Center of Astrophysics and Cosmology, Khazar University, Baku, AZ1096, 41 Mehseti Street, Azerbaijan, Department of Natural Sciences and Humanities, University of Engineering and Technology Lahore, New Campus, Pakistan)
; Talha Anwar (School of Science, Walailak University, Nakhon Si Thammarat 80160, Thailand, Research Center for Theoretical Simulation and Applied Research in Bioscience and Sensing, Walailak University, Nakhon Si Thammarat 80160, Thailand)
; Farruh Atamurotov (University of Tashkent for Applied Sciences, Str. Gavhar 1, Tashkent 100149, Uzbekistan, Kimyo International University in Tashkent, Shota Rustaveli str. 156, Tashkent 100121, Uzbekistan, Tashkent State Technical University, 100095 Tashkent, Uzbekistan)
; Ali M. Mubaraki (Department of Mathematics and Statistics, College of Science, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia)
; M.M. Alam (Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Applied Medical Science, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia)
This paper presents optical and astrophysical aspects of charged dilatonic black holes within the framework of dilaton-massive gravity, a promising extension of General Relativity motivated by low-energy string theory. By incorporating a nonminimally coupled scalar dilaton field and massive graviton terms into the Einstein-Maxwell action, we study static, spherically symmetric black hole solutions characterized by the parameters , , and , which control the strength of scalar-gravity and massive gravity couplings. We use Gauss-Bonnet theorem to compute the weak deflection angle of light around the black hole. The results reveal that the coupling parameter intensifies light bending, while more negative values of and higher graviton masses suppress it. Extending this analysis to realistic astrophysical settings, we introduce a cold, non-magnetized plasma environment and derive the plasma-corrected deflection angle. The presence of plasma leads to chromatic dispersion, increasing the bending of light at lower frequencies, and amplifying the influence of dilaton-massive gravity on lensing observables. Next, we examine the black hole's shadow by numerically solving for the photon sphere and evaluating the shadow radius. Our findings demonstrate that larger values of and decrease the shadow size due to increased spacetime curvature, whereas increasing expands it by lowering the gravitational potential. These effects are visualized through shadow images in celestial coordinates, clearly illustrating how modified gravity alters the observable structure of black holes.