IMAGING THE BLACK HOLE SILHOUETTE OF M87: IMPLICATIONS FOR JET FORMATION AND BLACK HOLE SPIN

被引:132
作者
Broderick, Avery E. [1 ]
Loeb, Abraham [2 ]
机构
[1] Canadian Inst Theoret Astrophys, Toronto, ON M5S 3H8, Canada
[2] Harvard Univ, Inst Theory & Computat, Ctr Astrophys, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
关键词
black hole physics; galaxies: active; galaxies: jets; submillimeter; techniques: interferometric; SGR-A-ASTERISK; MAGNETICALLY DRIVEN ACCRETION; X-RAY; COMPTON RADIATION; INNER JET; RADIO JET; EMISSION; SIMULATIONS; NUCLEUS; HORIZON;
D O I
10.1088/0004-637X/697/2/1164
中图分类号
P1 [天文学];
学科分类号
0704 ;
摘要
The silhouette cast by the horizon of the supermassive black hole in M87 can now be resolved with the emerging millimeter very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) capability. Despite being similar to 2 x 10(3) times farther away than Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*; the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way and the primary target for horizon-scale imaging), M87's much larger black hole mass results in a horizon angular scale roughly half that of Sgr A*'s, providing another practical target for direct imaging. However, unlike Sgr A*, M87 exhibits a powerful radio jet, providing an opportunity to study jet-formation physics on horizon scales. We employ a simple, qualitatively correct force-free jet model to explore the expected high-resolution images of M87 at wavelengths of 1.3 mm and 0.87 mm (230 GHz and 345 GHz), for a variety of jet parameters. We show that future VLBI data will be able to constrain the size of the jet footprint, the jet collimation rate, and the black hole spin. Polarization will further probe the structure of the jet's magnetic field and its effect on the emitting gas. Horizon-scale imaging of M87 and Sgr A* will enable for the first time the empirical exploration of the relationship between the mass and spin of a black hole and the characteristics of the gas inflow/outflow around it.
引用
收藏
页码:1164 / 1179
页数:16
相关论文
共 54 条
[1]  
[Anonymous], 1992, INT SERIES MONOGRAPH
[2]   THE RADIO TO X-RAY-SPECTRUM OF THE M87 JET AND NUCLEUS [J].
BIRETTA, JA ;
STERN, CP ;
HARRIS, DE .
ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL, 1991, 101 (05) :1632-1646
[3]   The intrinsic size of Sagittarius A* from 0.35 to 6 cm [J].
Bower, Geoffrey C. ;
Goss, W. M. ;
Falcke, Heino ;
Backer, Donald C. ;
Lithwick, Yoram .
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 2006, 648 (02) :L127-L130
[4]   Covariant magnetoionic theory - II. Radiative transfer [J].
Broderick, A ;
Blandford, R .
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, 2004, 349 (03) :994-1008
[5]   Imaging optically-thin hotspots near the black hole horizon of Sgr A* at radio and near-infrared wavelengths [J].
Broderick, AE ;
Loeb, A .
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, 2006, 367 (03) :905-916
[6]   Frequency-dependent shift in the image centroid of the black hole at the galactic center as a test of general relativity [J].
Broderick, AE ;
Loeb, A .
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 2006, 636 (02) :L109-L112
[7]   Imaging bright-spots in the accretion flow near the black hole horizon of Sgr A [J].
Broderick, AE ;
Loeb, A .
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, 2005, 363 (02) :353-362
[8]  
BRODERICK AE, 2009, APJ IN PRESS
[9]   Magnetically driven accretion in the Kerr metric. III. Unbound outflows [J].
De Villiers, JP ;
Hawley, JF ;
Krolik, JH ;
Hirose, S .
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 2005, 620 (02) :878-888
[10]   Magnetically driven accretion flows in the Kerr metric. I. Models and overall structure [J].
De Villiers, JP ;
Hawley, JF ;
Krolik, JH .
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 2003, 599 (02) :1238-1253