First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. V. Physical Origin of the Asymmetric Ring

The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration; Kazunori Akiyama; Antxon Alberdi; Walter Alef; Keiichi Asada; Rebecca Azulay; Anne Kathrin Baczko; David Ball; Mislav Baloković; John Barrett; Dan Bintley; Lindy Blackburn; Wilfred Boland; Katherine L. Bouman; Geoffrey C. Bower; Michael Bremer; Christiaan D. Brinkerink; Roger Brissenden; Silke Britzen; Avery E. Broderick; Dominique Broguiere; Thomas Bronzwaer; Do Young Byun; John E. Carlstrom; Andrew Chael; Chi Kwan Chan; Shami Chatterjee; Koushik Chatterjee; Ming Tang Chen; Yongjun Chen; Ilje Cho; Pierre Christian; John E. Conway; James M. Cordes; Geoffrey B. Crew; Yuzhu Cui; Jordy Davelaar; Mariafelicia De Laurentis; Roger Deane; Jessica Dempsey; Gregory Desvignes; Jason Dexter; Sheperd S. Doeleman; Ralph P. Eatough; Heino Falcke; Vincent L. Fish; Ed Fomalont; Raquel Fraga-Encinas; Per Friberg; Christian M. Fromm; José L. Gómez; Peter Galison; Charles F. Gammie; Roberto Garcia; Olivier Gentaz; Boris Georgiev; Ciriaco Goddi; Roman Gold; Minfeng Gu; Mark Gurwell; Kazuhiro Hada; Michael H. Hecht; Ronald Hesper; Luis C. Ho; Paul Ho; Mareki Honma; Chih Wei L. Huang; Lei Huang; David H. Hughes; Shiro Ikeda; Makoto Inoue; Sara Issaoun; David J. James; Buell T. Jannuzi; Michael Janssen; Britton Jeter; Wu Jiang; Michael D. Johnson; Svetlana Jorstad; Taehyun Jung; Mansour Karami; Ramesh Karuppusamy; Tomohisa Kawashima; Garrett K. Keating; Mark Kettenis; Jae Young Kim; Junhan Kim; Jongsoo Kim; Motoki Kino; Jun Yi Koay; Patrick M. Koch; Shoko Koyama; Michael Kramer; Carsten Kramer; Thomas P. Krichbaum; Cheng Yu Kuo; Tod R. Lauer; Sang Sung Lee; Yan Rong Li; Zhiyuan Li; Michael Lindqvist; Kuo Liu; Elisabetta Liuzzo; Wen Ping Lo; Andrei P. Lobanov; Laurent Loinard; Colin Lonsdale; Ru Sen Lu; Nicholas R. Macdonald; Jirong Mao; Sera Markoff; Daniel P. Marrone; Alan P. Marscher; Iván Marti-Vidal; Satoki Matsushita; Lynn D. Matthews; Lia Medeiros; Karl M. Menten; Yosuke Mizuno; Izumi Mizuno; James M. Moran; Kotaro Moriyama; Monika Moscibrodzka; Cornelia Muller; Hiroshi Nagai; Neil M. Nagar; Masanori Nakamura; Ramesh Narayan; Gopal Narayanan; Iniyan Natarajan; Roberto Neri; Chunchong Ni; Aristeidis Noutsos; Hiroki Okino; Héctor Olivares; Tomoaki Oyama; Feryal Ozel; Daniel C.M. Palumbo; Nimesh Patel; Ue Li Pen; Dominic W. Pesce; Vincent Piétu; Richard Plambeck; Aleksandar Popstefanija; Oliver Porth; Ben Prather; Jorge A. Preciado-López; Dimitrios Psaltis; Hung Yi Pu; Venkatessh Ramakrishnan; Ramprasad Rao; Mark G. Rawlings; Alexander W. Raymond; Luciano Rezzolla; Bart Ripperda; Freek Roelofs; Alan Rogers; Eduardo Ros; Mel Rose; Arash Roshanineshat; Helge Rottmann; Alan L. Roy; Chet Ruszczyk; Benjamin R. Ryan; Kazi L.J. Rygl; Salvador Sánchez; David Sánchez-Arguelles; Mahito Sasada; Tuomas Savolainen; F. Peter Schloerb; Karl Friedrich Schuster; Lijing Shao; Zhiqiang Shen; Des Small; Bong Won Sohn; Jason Soohoo; Fumie Tazaki; Paul Tiede; Remo P.J. Tilanus; Michael Titus; Kenji Toma; Pablo Torne; Tyler Trent; Sascha Trippe; Shuichiro Tsuda; Ilse Van Bemmel; Huib Jan Van Langevelde; Daniel R. Van Rossum; Jan Wagner; John Wardle; Jonathan Weintroub; Norbert Wex; Robert Wharton; Maciek Wielgus; George N. Wong; Qingwen Wu; André Young; Ken Young; Ziri Younsi; Feng Yuan; Ye Fei Yuan; J. Anton Zensus; Guangyao Zhao; Shan Shan Zhao; Ziyan Zhu; Jadyn Anczarski; Frederick K. Baganoff; Andreas Eckart; Joseph R. Farah; Daryl Haggard; Zheng Meyer-Zhao; Daniel Michalik; Andrew Nadolski; Joseph Neilsen; Hiroaki Nishioka; Michael A. Nowak; Nicolas Pradel; Rurik A. Primiani; Kamal Souccar; Laura Vertatschitsch; Paul Yamaguchi; Shuo Zhang

doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ab0f43

First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. V. Physical Origin of the Asymmetric Ring

The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, Kazunori Akiyama, Antxon Alberdi, Walter Alef, Keiichi Asada, Rebecca Azulay, Anne Kathrin Baczko, David Ball, Mislav Baloković, John Barrett, Dan Bintley, Lindy Blackburn, Wilfred Boland, Katherine L. Bouman, Geoffrey C. Bower, Michael Bremer, Christiaan D. Brinkerink, Roger Brissenden, Silke Britzen, Avery E. BroderickDominique Broguiere, Thomas Bronzwaer, Do Young Byun, John E. Carlstrom, Andrew Chael, Chi Kwan Chan, Shami Chatterjee, Koushik Chatterjee, Ming Tang Chen, Yongjun Chen, Ilje Cho, Pierre Christian, John E. Conway, James M. Cordes, Geoffrey B. Crew, Yuzhu Cui, Jordy Davelaar, Mariafelicia De Laurentis, Roger Deane, Jessica Dempsey, Gregory Desvignes, Jason Dexter, Sheperd S. Doeleman, Ralph P. Eatough, Heino Falcke, Vincent L. Fish, Ed Fomalont, Raquel Fraga-Encinas, Per Friberg, Christian M. Fromm, José L. Gómez, Peter Galison, Charles F. Gammie, Roberto Garcia, Olivier Gentaz, Boris Georgiev, Ciriaco Goddi, Roman Gold, Minfeng Gu, Mark Gurwell, Kazuhiro Hada, Michael H. Hecht, Ronald Hesper, Luis C. Ho, Paul Ho, Mareki Honma, Chih Wei L. Huang, Lei Huang, David H. Hughes, Shiro Ikeda, Makoto Inoue, Sara Issaoun, David J. James, Buell T. Jannuzi, Michael Janssen, Britton Jeter, Wu Jiang, Michael D. Johnson, Svetlana Jorstad, Taehyun Jung, Mansour Karami, Ramesh Karuppusamy, Tomohisa Kawashima, Garrett K. Keating, Mark Kettenis, Jae Young Kim, Junhan Kim, Jongsoo Kim, Motoki Kino, Jun Yi Koay, Patrick M. Koch, Shoko Koyama, Michael Kramer, Carsten Kramer, Thomas P. Krichbaum, Cheng Yu Kuo, Tod R. Lauer, Sang Sung Lee, Yan Rong Li, Zhiyuan Li, Michael Lindqvist, Kuo Liu, Elisabetta Liuzzo, Wen Ping Lo, Andrei P. Lobanov, Laurent Loinard, Colin Lonsdale, Ru Sen Lu, Nicholas R. Macdonald, Jirong Mao, Sera Markoff, Daniel P. Marrone, Alan P. Marscher, Iván Marti-Vidal, Satoki Matsushita, Lynn D. Matthews, Lia Medeiros, Karl M. Menten, Yosuke Mizuno, Izumi Mizuno, James M. Moran, Kotaro Moriyama, Monika Moscibrodzka, Cornelia Muller, Hiroshi Nagai, Neil M. Nagar, Masanori Nakamura, Ramesh Narayan, Gopal Narayanan, Iniyan Natarajan, Roberto Neri, Chunchong Ni, Aristeidis Noutsos, Hiroki Okino, Héctor Olivares, Tomoaki Oyama, Feryal Ozel, Daniel C.M. Palumbo, Nimesh Patel, Ue Li Pen, Dominic W. Pesce, Vincent Piétu, Richard Plambeck, Aleksandar Popstefanija, Oliver Porth, Ben Prather, Jorge A. Preciado-López, Dimitrios Psaltis, Hung Yi Pu, Venkatessh Ramakrishnan, Ramprasad Rao, Mark G. Rawlings, Alexander W. Raymond, Luciano Rezzolla, Bart Ripperda, Freek Roelofs, Alan Rogers, Eduardo Ros, Mel Rose, Arash Roshanineshat, Helge Rottmann, Alan L. Roy, Chet Ruszczyk, Benjamin R. Ryan, Kazi L.J. Rygl, Salvador Sánchez, David Sánchez-Arguelles, Mahito Sasada, Tuomas Savolainen, F. Peter Schloerb, Karl Friedrich Schuster, Lijing Shao, Zhiqiang Shen, Des Small, Bong Won Sohn, Jason Soohoo, Fumie Tazaki, Paul Tiede, Remo P.J. Tilanus, Michael Titus, Kenji Toma, Pablo Torne, Tyler Trent, Sascha Trippe, Shuichiro Tsuda, Ilse Van Bemmel, Huib Jan Van Langevelde, Daniel R. Van Rossum, Jan Wagner, John Wardle, Jonathan Weintroub, Norbert Wex, Robert Wharton, Maciek Wielgus, George N. Wong, Qingwen Wu, André Young, Ken Young, Ziri Younsi, Feng Yuan, Ye Fei Yuan, J. Anton Zensus, Guangyao Zhao, Shan Shan Zhao, Ziyan Zhu, Jadyn Anczarski, Frederick K. Baganoff, Andreas Eckart, Joseph R. Farah, Daryl Haggard, Zheng Meyer-Zhao, Daniel Michalik, Andrew Nadolski, Joseph Neilsen, Hiroaki Nishioka, Michael A. Nowak, Nicolas Pradel, Rurik A. Primiani, Kamal Souccar, Laura Vertatschitsch, Paul Yamaguchi, Shuo Zhang

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

391 Scopus citations

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.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	L5
Journal	Astrophysical Journal Letters
Volume	875
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab0f43
State	Published - Apr 10 2019

Keywords

accretion, accretion disks
black hole physics
galaxies: individual (M87)
galaxies: jets
magnetohydrodynamics (MHD)
techniques: high angular resolution

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

Access to Document

10.3847/2041-8213/ab0f43

Cite this

Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, T., Akiyama, K., Alberdi, A., Alef, W., Asada, K., Azulay, R., Baczko, A. K., Ball, D., Baloković, M., Barrett, J., Bintley, D., Blackburn, L., Boland, W., Bouman, K. L., Bower, G. C., Bremer, M., Brinkerink, C. D., Brissenden, R., Britzen, S., ... Zhang, S. (2019). First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. V. Physical Origin of the Asymmetric Ring. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 875(1), [L5]. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab0f43

Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, T, Akiyama, K, Alberdi, A, Alef, W, Asada, K, Azulay, R, Baczko, AK, Ball, D, Baloković, M, Barrett, J, Bintley, D, Blackburn, L, Boland, W, Bouman, KL, Bower, GC, Bremer, M, Brinkerink, CD, Brissenden, R, Britzen, S, Broderick, AE, Broguiere, D, Bronzwaer, T, Byun, DY, Carlstrom, JE, Chael, A, Chan, CK, Chatterjee, S, Chatterjee, K, Chen, MT, Chen, Y, Cho, I, Christian, P, Conway, JE, Cordes, JM, Crew, GB, Cui, Y, Davelaar, J, De Laurentis, M, Deane, R, Dempsey, J, Desvignes, G, Dexter, J, Doeleman, SS, Eatough, RP, Falcke, H, Fish, VL, Fomalont, E, Fraga-Encinas, R, Friberg, P, Fromm, CM, Gómez, JL, Galison, P, Gammie, CF, Garcia, R, Gentaz, O, Georgiev, B, Goddi, C, Gold, R, Gu, M, Gurwell, M, Hada, K, Hecht, MH, Hesper, R, Ho, LC, Ho, P, Honma, M, Huang, CWL, Huang, L, Hughes, DH, Ikeda, S, Inoue, M, Issaoun, S, James, DJ, Jannuzi, BT, Janssen, M, Jeter, B, Jiang, W, Johnson, MD, Jorstad, S, Jung, T, Karami, M, Karuppusamy, R, Kawashima, T, Keating, GK, Kettenis, M, Kim, JY, Kim, J, Kim, J, Kino, M, Koay, JY, Koch, PM, Koyama, S, Kramer, M, Kramer, C, Krichbaum, TP, Kuo, CY, Lauer, TR, Lee, SS, Li, YR, Li, Z, Lindqvist, M, Liu, K, Liuzzo, E, Lo, WP, Lobanov, AP, Loinard, L, Lonsdale, C, Lu, RS, Macdonald, NR, Mao, J, Markoff, S, Marrone, DP, Marscher, AP, Marti-Vidal, I, Matsushita, S, Matthews, LD, Medeiros, L, Menten, KM, Mizuno, Y, Mizuno, I, Moran, JM, Moriyama, K, Moscibrodzka, M, Muller, C, Nagai, H, Nagar, NM, Nakamura, M, Narayan, R, Narayanan, G, Natarajan, I, Neri, R, Ni, C, Noutsos, A, Okino, H, Olivares, H, Oyama, T, Ozel, F, Palumbo, DCM, Patel, N, Pen, UL, Pesce, DW, Piétu, V, Plambeck, R, Popstefanija, A, Porth, O, Prather, B, Preciado-López, JA, Psaltis, D, Pu, HY, Ramakrishnan, V, Rao, R, Rawlings, MG, Raymond, AW, Rezzolla, L, Ripperda, B, Roelofs, F, Rogers, A, Ros, E, Rose, M, Roshanineshat, A, Rottmann, H, Roy, AL, Ruszczyk, C, Ryan, BR, Rygl, KLJ, Sánchez, S, Sánchez-Arguelles, D, Sasada, M, Savolainen, T, Schloerb, FP, Schuster, KF, Shao, L, Shen, Z, Small, D, Sohn, BW, Soohoo, J, Tazaki, F, Tiede, P, Tilanus, RPJ, Titus, M, Toma, K, Torne, P, Trent, T, Trippe, S, Tsuda, S, Van Bemmel, I, Van Langevelde, HJ, Van Rossum, DR, Wagner, J, Wardle, J, Weintroub, J, Wex, N, Wharton, R, Wielgus, M, Wong, GN, Wu, Q, Young, A, Young, K, Younsi, Z, Yuan, F, Yuan, YF, Zensus, JA, Zhao, G, Zhao, SS, Zhu, Z, Anczarski, J, Baganoff, FK, Eckart, A, Farah, JR, Haggard, D, Meyer-Zhao, Z, Michalik, D, Nadolski, A, Neilsen, J, Nishioka, H, Nowak, MA, Pradel, N, Primiani, RA, Souccar, K, Vertatschitsch, L, Yamaguchi, P & Zhang, S 2019, 'First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. V. Physical Origin of the Asymmetric Ring', Astrophysical Journal Letters, vol. 875, no. 1, L5. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab0f43

@article{97b52e0d6c114da099c459a8ffe08a56,

title = "First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. V. Physical Origin of the Asymmetric Ring",

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.",

keywords = "accretion, accretion disks, black hole physics, galaxies: individual (M87), galaxies: jets, magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), techniques: high angular resolution",

author = "{Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration}, The and Kazunori Akiyama and Antxon Alberdi and Walter Alef and Keiichi Asada and Rebecca Azulay and Baczko, {Anne Kathrin} and David Ball and Mislav Balokovi{\'c} and John Barrett and Dan Bintley and Lindy Blackburn and Wilfred Boland and Bouman, {Katherine L.} and Bower, {Geoffrey C.} and Michael Bremer and Brinkerink, {Christiaan D.} and Roger Brissenden and Silke Britzen and Broderick, {Avery E.} and Dominique Broguiere and Thomas Bronzwaer and Byun, {Do Young} and Carlstrom, {John E.} and Andrew Chael and Chan, {Chi Kwan} and Shami Chatterjee and Koushik Chatterjee and Chen, {Ming Tang} and Yongjun Chen and Ilje Cho and Pierre Christian and Conway, {John E.} and Cordes, {James M.} and Crew, {Geoffrey B.} and Yuzhu Cui and Jordy Davelaar and {De Laurentis}, Mariafelicia and Roger Deane and Jessica Dempsey and Gregory Desvignes and Jason Dexter and Doeleman, {Sheperd S.} and Eatough, {Ralph P.} and Heino Falcke and Fish, {Vincent L.} and Ed Fomalont and Raquel Fraga-Encinas and Per Friberg and Fromm, {Christian M.} and G{\'o}mez, {Jos{\'e} L.} and Peter Galison and Gammie, {Charles F.} and Roberto Garcia and Olivier Gentaz and Boris Georgiev and Ciriaco Goddi and Roman Gold and Minfeng Gu and Mark Gurwell and Kazuhiro Hada and Hecht, {Michael H.} and Ronald Hesper and Ho, {Luis C.} and Paul Ho and Mareki Honma and Huang, {Chih Wei L.} and Lei Huang and Hughes, {David H.} and Shiro Ikeda and Makoto Inoue and Sara Issaoun and James, {David J.} and Jannuzi, {Buell T.} and Michael Janssen and Britton Jeter and Wu Jiang and Johnson, {Michael D.} and Svetlana Jorstad and Taehyun Jung and Mansour Karami and Ramesh Karuppusamy and Tomohisa Kawashima and Keating, {Garrett K.} and Mark Kettenis and Kim, {Jae Young} and Junhan Kim and Jongsoo Kim and Motoki Kino and Koay, {Jun Yi} and Koch, {Patrick M.} and Shoko Koyama and Michael Kramer and Carsten Kramer and Krichbaum, {Thomas P.} and Kuo, {Cheng Yu} and Lauer, {Tod R.} and Lee, {Sang Sung} and Li, {Yan Rong} and Zhiyuan Li and Michael Lindqvist and Kuo Liu and Elisabetta Liuzzo and Lo, {Wen Ping} and Lobanov, {Andrei P.} and Laurent Loinard and Colin Lonsdale and Lu, {Ru Sen} and Macdonald, {Nicholas R.} and Jirong Mao and Sera Markoff and Marrone, {Daniel P.} and Marscher, {Alan P.} and Iv{\'a}n Marti-Vidal and Satoki Matsushita and Matthews, {Lynn D.} and Lia Medeiros and Menten, {Karl M.} and Yosuke Mizuno and Izumi Mizuno and Moran, {James M.} and Kotaro Moriyama and Monika Moscibrodzka and Cornelia Muller and Hiroshi Nagai and Nagar, {Neil M.} and Masanori Nakamura and Ramesh Narayan and Gopal Narayanan and Iniyan Natarajan and Roberto Neri and Chunchong Ni and Aristeidis Noutsos and Hiroki Okino and H{\'e}ctor Olivares and Tomoaki Oyama and Feryal Ozel and Palumbo, {Daniel C.M.} and Nimesh Patel and Pen, {Ue Li} and Pesce, {Dominic W.} and Vincent Pi{\'e}tu and Richard Plambeck and Aleksandar Popstefanija and Oliver Porth and Ben Prather and Preciado-L{\'o}pez, {Jorge A.} and Dimitrios Psaltis and Pu, {Hung Yi} and Venkatessh Ramakrishnan and Ramprasad Rao and Rawlings, {Mark G.} and Raymond, {Alexander W.} and Luciano Rezzolla and Bart Ripperda and Freek Roelofs and Alan Rogers and Eduardo Ros and Mel Rose and Arash Roshanineshat and Helge Rottmann and Roy, {Alan L.} and Chet Ruszczyk and Ryan, {Benjamin R.} and Rygl, {Kazi L.J.} and Salvador S{\'a}nchez and David S{\'a}nchez-Arguelles and Mahito Sasada and Tuomas Savolainen and Schloerb, {F. Peter} and Schuster, {Karl Friedrich} and Lijing Shao and Zhiqiang Shen and Des Small and Sohn, {Bong Won} and Jason Soohoo and Fumie Tazaki and Paul Tiede and Tilanus, {Remo P.J.} and Michael Titus and Kenji Toma and Pablo Torne and Tyler Trent and Sascha Trippe and Shuichiro Tsuda and {Van Bemmel}, Ilse and {Van Langevelde}, {Huib Jan} and {Van Rossum}, {Daniel R.} and Jan Wagner and John Wardle and Jonathan Weintroub and Norbert Wex and Robert Wharton and Maciek Wielgus and Wong, {George N.} and Qingwen Wu and Andr{\'e} Young and Ken Young and Ziri Younsi and Feng Yuan and Yuan, {Ye Fei} and Zensus, {J. Anton} and Guangyao Zhao and Zhao, {Shan Shan} and Ziyan Zhu and Jadyn Anczarski and Baganoff, {Frederick K.} and Andreas Eckart and Farah, {Joseph R.} and Daryl Haggard and Zheng Meyer-Zhao and Daniel Michalik and Andrew Nadolski and Joseph Neilsen and Hiroaki Nishioka and Nowak, {Michael A.} and Nicolas Pradel and Primiani, {Rurik A.} and Kamal Souccar and Laura Vertatschitsch and Paul Yamaguchi and Shuo Zhang",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019. The American Astronomical Society..",

year = "2019",

month = apr,

day = "10",

doi = "10.3847/2041-8213/ab0f43",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "875",

journal = "Astrophysical Journal Letters",

issn = "2041-8205",

publisher = "IOP Publishing Ltd.",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. V. Physical Origin of the Asymmetric Ring

AU - Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, The

AU - Akiyama, Kazunori

AU - Alberdi, Antxon

AU - Alef, Walter

AU - Asada, Keiichi

AU - Azulay, Rebecca

AU - Baczko, Anne Kathrin

AU - Ball, David

AU - Baloković, Mislav

AU - Barrett, John

AU - Bintley, Dan

AU - Blackburn, Lindy

AU - Boland, Wilfred

AU - Bouman, Katherine L.

AU - Bower, Geoffrey C.

AU - Bremer, Michael

AU - Brinkerink, Christiaan D.

AU - Brissenden, Roger

AU - Britzen, Silke

AU - Broderick, Avery E.

AU - Broguiere, Dominique

AU - Bronzwaer, Thomas

AU - Byun, Do Young

AU - Carlstrom, John E.

AU - Chael, Andrew

AU - Chan, Chi Kwan

AU - Chatterjee, Shami

AU - Chatterjee, Koushik

AU - Chen, Ming Tang

AU - Chen, Yongjun

AU - Cho, Ilje

AU - Christian, Pierre

AU - Conway, John E.

AU - Cordes, James M.

AU - Crew, Geoffrey B.

AU - Cui, Yuzhu

AU - Davelaar, Jordy

AU - De Laurentis, Mariafelicia

AU - Deane, Roger

AU - Dempsey, Jessica

AU - Desvignes, Gregory

AU - Dexter, Jason

AU - Doeleman, Sheperd S.

AU - Eatough, Ralph P.

AU - Falcke, Heino

AU - Fish, Vincent L.

AU - Fomalont, Ed

AU - Fraga-Encinas, Raquel

AU - Friberg, Per

AU - Fromm, Christian M.

AU - Gómez, José L.

AU - Galison, Peter

AU - Gammie, Charles F.

AU - Garcia, Roberto

AU - Gentaz, Olivier

AU - Georgiev, Boris

AU - Goddi, Ciriaco

AU - Gold, Roman

AU - Gu, Minfeng

AU - Gurwell, Mark

AU - Hada, Kazuhiro

AU - Hecht, Michael H.

AU - Hesper, Ronald

AU - Ho, Luis C.

AU - Ho, Paul

AU - Honma, Mareki

AU - Huang, Chih Wei L.

AU - Huang, Lei

AU - Hughes, David H.

AU - Ikeda, Shiro

AU - Inoue, Makoto

AU - Issaoun, Sara

AU - James, David J.

AU - Jannuzi, Buell T.

AU - Janssen, Michael

AU - Jeter, Britton

AU - Jiang, Wu

AU - Johnson, Michael D.

AU - Jorstad, Svetlana

AU - Jung, Taehyun

AU - Karami, Mansour

AU - Karuppusamy, Ramesh

AU - Kawashima, Tomohisa

AU - Keating, Garrett K.

AU - Kettenis, Mark

AU - Kim, Jae Young

AU - Kim, Junhan

AU - Kim, Jongsoo

AU - Kino, Motoki

AU - Koay, Jun Yi

AU - Koch, Patrick M.

AU - Koyama, Shoko

AU - Kramer, Michael

AU - Kramer, Carsten

AU - Krichbaum, Thomas P.

AU - Kuo, Cheng Yu

AU - Lauer, Tod R.

AU - Lee, Sang Sung

AU - Li, Yan Rong

AU - Li, Zhiyuan

AU - Lindqvist, Michael

AU - Liu, Kuo

AU - Liuzzo, Elisabetta

AU - Lo, Wen Ping

AU - Lobanov, Andrei P.

AU - Loinard, Laurent

AU - Lonsdale, Colin

AU - Lu, Ru Sen

AU - Macdonald, Nicholas R.

AU - Mao, Jirong

AU - Markoff, Sera

AU - Marrone, Daniel P.

AU - Marscher, Alan P.

AU - Marti-Vidal, Iván

AU - Matsushita, Satoki

AU - Matthews, Lynn D.

AU - Medeiros, Lia

AU - Menten, Karl M.

AU - Mizuno, Yosuke

AU - Mizuno, Izumi

AU - Moran, James M.

AU - Moriyama, Kotaro

AU - Moscibrodzka, Monika

AU - Muller, Cornelia

AU - Nagai, Hiroshi

AU - Nagar, Neil M.

AU - Nakamura, Masanori

AU - Narayan, Ramesh

AU - Narayanan, Gopal

AU - Natarajan, Iniyan

AU - Neri, Roberto

AU - Ni, Chunchong

AU - Noutsos, Aristeidis

AU - Okino, Hiroki

AU - Olivares, Héctor

AU - Oyama, Tomoaki

AU - Ozel, Feryal

AU - Palumbo, Daniel C.M.

AU - Patel, Nimesh

AU - Pen, Ue Li

AU - Pesce, Dominic W.

AU - Piétu, Vincent

AU - Plambeck, Richard

AU - Popstefanija, Aleksandar

AU - Porth, Oliver

AU - Prather, Ben

AU - Preciado-López, Jorge A.

AU - Psaltis, Dimitrios

AU - Pu, Hung Yi

AU - Ramakrishnan, Venkatessh

AU - Rao, Ramprasad

AU - Rawlings, Mark G.

AU - Raymond, Alexander W.

AU - Rezzolla, Luciano

AU - Ripperda, Bart

AU - Roelofs, Freek

AU - Rogers, Alan

AU - Ros, Eduardo

AU - Rose, Mel

AU - Roshanineshat, Arash

AU - Rottmann, Helge

AU - Roy, Alan L.

AU - Ruszczyk, Chet

AU - Ryan, Benjamin R.

AU - Rygl, Kazi L.J.

AU - Sánchez, Salvador

AU - Sánchez-Arguelles, David

AU - Sasada, Mahito

AU - Savolainen, Tuomas

AU - Schloerb, F. Peter

AU - Schuster, Karl Friedrich

AU - Shao, Lijing

AU - Shen, Zhiqiang

AU - Small, Des

AU - Sohn, Bong Won

AU - Soohoo, Jason

AU - Tazaki, Fumie

AU - Tiede, Paul

AU - Tilanus, Remo P.J.

AU - Titus, Michael

AU - Toma, Kenji

AU - Torne, Pablo

AU - Trent, Tyler

AU - Trippe, Sascha

AU - Tsuda, Shuichiro

AU - Van Bemmel, Ilse

AU - Van Langevelde, Huib Jan

AU - Van Rossum, Daniel R.

AU - Wagner, Jan

AU - Wardle, John

AU - Weintroub, Jonathan

AU - Wex, Norbert

AU - Wharton, Robert

AU - Wielgus, Maciek

AU - Wong, George N.

AU - Wu, Qingwen

AU - Young, André

AU - Young, Ken

AU - Younsi, Ziri

AU - Yuan, Feng

AU - Yuan, Ye Fei

AU - Zensus, J. Anton

AU - Zhao, Guangyao

AU - Zhao, Shan Shan

AU - Zhu, Ziyan

AU - Anczarski, Jadyn

AU - Baganoff, Frederick K.

AU - Eckart, Andreas

AU - Farah, Joseph R.

AU - Haggard, Daryl

AU - Meyer-Zhao, Zheng

AU - Michalik, Daniel

AU - Nadolski, Andrew

AU - Neilsen, Joseph

AU - Nishioka, Hiroaki

AU - Nowak, Michael A.

AU - Pradel, Nicolas

AU - Primiani, Rurik A.

AU - Souccar, Kamal

AU - Vertatschitsch, Laura

AU - Yamaguchi, Paul

AU - Zhang, Shuo

PY - 2019/4/10

Y1 - 2019/4/10

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - accretion, accretion disks

KW - black hole physics

KW - galaxies: individual (M87)

KW - galaxies: jets

KW - magnetohydrodynamics (MHD)

KW - techniques: high angular resolution

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85064463510&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85064463510&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3847/2041-8213/ab0f43

DO - 10.3847/2041-8213/ab0f43

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85064463510

SN - 2041-8205

VL - 875

JO - Astrophysical Journal Letters

JF - Astrophysical Journal Letters

IS - 1

M1 - L5

ER -

First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. V. Physical Origin of the Asymmetric Ring

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