Imaging and polarimetric signatures of Konoplya-Zhidenko black holes with various thick disk

Abstract We investigate the imaging properties of spherically symmetric Konoplya-Zhidenko (KZ) black holes surrounded by geometrically thick accretion flows, adopting a phenomenological radiatively inefficient accretion flow (RIAF) model and an analytical ballistic approximation accretion flow (BAAF) model. General relativistic radiative transfer is employed to compute synchrotron emission from thermal electrons and generate horizon-scale images. For the RIAF model, we analyze the dependence of image morphology on the deformation parameter, observing frequency, and flow dynamics. The photon ring and central dark region expand with increasing deformation parameter, with brightness asymmetries arising at high inclinations and depending on flow dynamics and emission anisotropy. The BAAF disk produces narrower rings and darker centers, while polarization patterns trace the brightness distribution and vary with viewing angle and deformation, revealing spacetime structure. These results demonstrate that intensity and polarization in thick-disk models provide probes of KZ black holes and near-horizon accretion physics.