THE EVENT HORIZON OF M87
The 6 × 10[superscript 9] M[subscript ⊙] supermassive black hole at the center of the giant elliptical galaxy M87 powers a relativistic jet. Observations at millimeter wavelengths with the Event Horizon Telescope have localized the emission from the base of this jet to angular scales comparable to t...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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IOP Publishing
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98485 |
| _version_ | 1811091613677518848 |
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| author | Broderick, Avery E. Narayan, Ramesh Kormendy, John Perlman, Eric S. Rieke, Marcia J. Doeleman, Sheperd Samuel |
| author2 | Haystack Observatory |
| author_facet | Haystack Observatory Broderick, Avery E. Narayan, Ramesh Kormendy, John Perlman, Eric S. Rieke, Marcia J. Doeleman, Sheperd Samuel |
| author_sort | Broderick, Avery E. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The 6 × 10[superscript 9] M[subscript ⊙] supermassive black hole at the center of the giant elliptical galaxy M87 powers a relativistic jet. Observations at millimeter wavelengths with the Event Horizon Telescope have localized the emission from the base of this jet to angular scales comparable to the putative black hole horizon. The jet might be powered directly by an accretion disk or by electromagnetic extraction of the rotational energy of the black hole. However, even the latter mechanism requires a confining thick accretion disk to maintain the required magnetic flux near the black hole. Therefore, regardless of the jet mechanism, the observed jet power in M87 implies a certain minimum mass accretion rate. If the central compact object in M87 were not a black hole but had a surface, this accretion would result in considerable thermal near-infrared and optical emission from the surface. Current flux limits on the nucleus of M87 strongly constrain any such surface emission. This rules out the presence of a surface and thereby provides indirect evidence for an event horizon. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:05:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/98485 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:05:10Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/984852022-10-02T00:29:17Z THE EVENT HORIZON OF M87 Broderick, Avery E. Narayan, Ramesh Kormendy, John Perlman, Eric S. Rieke, Marcia J. Doeleman, Sheperd Samuel Haystack Observatory Doeleman, Sheperd Samuel The 6 × 10[superscript 9] M[subscript ⊙] supermassive black hole at the center of the giant elliptical galaxy M87 powers a relativistic jet. Observations at millimeter wavelengths with the Event Horizon Telescope have localized the emission from the base of this jet to angular scales comparable to the putative black hole horizon. The jet might be powered directly by an accretion disk or by electromagnetic extraction of the rotational energy of the black hole. However, even the latter mechanism requires a confining thick accretion disk to maintain the required magnetic flux near the black hole. Therefore, regardless of the jet mechanism, the observed jet power in M87 implies a certain minimum mass accretion rate. If the central compact object in M87 were not a black hole but had a surface, this accretion would result in considerable thermal near-infrared and optical emission from the surface. Current flux limits on the nucleus of M87 strongly constrain any such surface emission. This rules out the presence of a surface and thereby provides indirect evidence for an event horizon. 2015-09-14T18:27:58Z 2015-09-14T18:27:58Z 2015-06 2015-02 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1538-4357 0004-637X http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98485 Broderick, Avery E., Ramesh Narayan, John Kormendy, Eric S. Perlman, Marcia J. Rieke, and Sheperd S. Doeleman. “THE EVENT HORIZON OF M87.” The Astrophysical Journal 805, no. 2 (June 2, 2015): 179. © 2015 The American Astronomical Society en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/805/2/179 The Astrophysical Journal Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf IOP Publishing IOP Publishing |
| spellingShingle | Broderick, Avery E. Narayan, Ramesh Kormendy, John Perlman, Eric S. Rieke, Marcia J. Doeleman, Sheperd Samuel THE EVENT HORIZON OF M87 |
| title | THE EVENT HORIZON OF M87 |
| title_full | THE EVENT HORIZON OF M87 |
| title_fullStr | THE EVENT HORIZON OF M87 |
| title_full_unstemmed | THE EVENT HORIZON OF M87 |
| title_short | THE EVENT HORIZON OF M87 |
| title_sort | event horizon of m87 |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98485 |
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