Recognition: unknown
First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. V. Physical Origin of the Asymmetric Ring
read the original abstract
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has mapped the central compact radio source of the elliptical galaxy M87 at 1.3 mm with unprecedented angular resolution. Here we consider the physical implications of the asymmetric ring seen in the 2017 EHT data. To this end, we construct a large library of models based on general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations and synthetic images produced by general relativistic ray tracing. We compare the observed visibilities with this library and confirm that the asymmetric ring is consistent with earlier predictions of strong gravitational lensing of synchrotron emission from a hot plasma orbiting near the black hole event horizon. The ring radius and ring asymmetry depend on black hole mass and spin, respectively, and both are therefore expected to be stable when observed in future EHT campaigns. Overall, the observed image is consistent with expectations for the shadow of a spinning Kerr black hole as predicted by general relativity. If the black hole spin and M87's large scale jet are aligned, then the black hole spin vector is pointed away from Earth. Models in our library of non-spinning black holes are inconsistent with the observations as they do not produce sufficiently powerful jets. At the same time, in those models that produce a sufficiently powerful jet, the latter is powered by extraction of black hole spin energy through mechanisms akin to the Blandford-Znajek process. We briefly consider alternatives to a black hole for the central compact object. Analysis of existing EHT polarization data and data taken simultaneously at other wavelengths will soon enable new tests of the GRMHD models, as will future EHT campaigns at 230 and 345 GHz.
This paper has not been read by Pith yet.
Forward citations
Cited by 8 Pith papers
-
Light Propagation Prescriptions for Black Hole Movies
Brisk light bridges fast and slow prescriptions by using dominant temporal intervals per lensing band, with mismatches reaching tens of percent when source variability is shorter than delay spreads.
-
GRMHD accretion beyond the black hole paradigm: Light from within the shadow
3D GRMHD simulations of accretion onto a JMN-1 horizonless singularity produce a magnetically arrested disk with an accretion rate of ~3e-6 Eddington matching M87* observations and EHT-consistent images, plus central ...
-
Photon rings and shadows of black holes with non-minimal couplings between curvature and electromagnetic field
Three distinct non-minimal curvature-EM couplings produce different enlargements or reductions of black hole shadows and alter photon ring separations in characteristic ways.
-
Effective null geodesics and black hole images in Kruglov nonlinear electrodynamics
In Kruglov's Born-Infeld-type nonlinear electrodynamics, the effective photon geometry around a charged black hole produces q-dependent shifts in light deflection, shadow radius, and accretion disk images, including s...
-
Effective null geodesics and black hole images in Kruglov nonlinear electrodynamics
In Kruglov nonlinear electrodynamics, small positive values of the parameter q produce stable photon orbits outside the event horizon and modify black hole shadows and relativistic images even when the spacetime metri...
-
Optical Appearance of the Kerr-Bertotti-Robinson Black Hole with a Magnetically Driven Synchrotron Emissivity Model
Kerr-BR black hole images with magnetically coupled synchrotron emissivity show spin- and B-dependent shifts in the inner disk edge, altered lensing rings, and Doppler asymmetries, with retrograde cases displaying wid...
-
Probing Kalb-Ramond gravity with charged rotating black holes: constraints from EHT observations
EHT shadow observations constrain the Lorentz-violating parameter ℓ in Kalb-Ramond gravity for charged rotating black holes to roughly |ℓ| ≲ 0.1-0.2, with an upper bound ℓ ≲ 0.19 from Sgr A*.
-
Polarization Signatures from GRMHD Simulations of Black Hole Accretion
Polarization signatures from GRMHD simulations of black hole accretion can help probe disk, corona, and jet properties when combined with X-ray polarimetry observations.
discussion (0)
Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.