THE EVENT HORIZON OF M87
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Broderick-2015-Event horizon.pdf
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Author(s)
Broderick, Avery E.
Narayan, Ramesh
Kormendy, John
Perlman, Eric S.
Rieke, Marcia J.
Doeleman, Sheperd Samuel
Date Issued
June 2015
Journal
The Astrophysical Journal
Publisher
IOP Publishing
Citation
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
Version
Final published version
Abstract
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.
MIT Department
Haystack Observatory
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/805/2/179
