Unveiling extra photon rings: optical images of asymmetric thin-shell wormholes with non-commutative corrections*

Abstract In this work, using the thin disk model, we examine the optical observations of asymmetric thin-shell wormholes (ATWs) within the theoretical framework of higher-order non-commutative geometry. By utilizing ray tracing technology, the trajectories of photons under various relevant parameters, as well as the optical observational appearance of ATW, can be accurately simulated. Compared to the black hole (BH) spacetime, observational images of ATW will exhibit extra bright ring structures. The results show that an increase in the non-commutative parameter leads to the innermost extra photon ring moving away from the shadow region, while the second extra photon ring moves closer to the shadow region. However, only one extra bright ring structure is observed in the image when the non-commutative parameter increases to θ = 0.03, implying that the observed features of ATWs seem to become increasingly visually similar to a BH with increasing θ . Furthermore, an increase in the mass ratio will result in a reduction of the radius of the innermost extra photon ring, whereas an increase in the throat radius will lead to an expansion of its radius. Notably, neither parameter has a significant impact on the size of the second extra photon ring. These findings significantly advance our theoretical understanding of the optical features of ATWs with higher-order non-commutative corrections.