Akiyama, K;
Albentosa-Ruíz, E;
Alberdi, A;
Alef, W;
Algaba, JC;
Anantua, R;
Asada, K;
... Jiang, W; + view all
(2025)
The persistent shadow of the supermassive black hole of M87:
II. Model comparisons and theoretical interpretations.
Astronomy and Astrophysics (A&A)
, 693
, Article A265. 10.1051/0004-6361/202451296.
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Abstract
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) observation of M87∗ in 2018 has revealed a ring with a diameter that is consistent with the 2017 observation. The brightest part of the ring is shifted to the southwest from the southeast. In this paper, we provide theoretical interpretations for the multi-epoch EHT observations for M87∗ by comparing a new general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics model image library with the EHT observations for M87∗ in both 2017 and 2018. The model images include aligned and tilted accretion with parameterized thermal and nonthermal synchrotron emission properties. The 2018 observation again shows that the spin vector of the M87∗ supermassive black hole is pointed away from Earth. A shift of the brightest part of the ring during the multi-epoch observations can naturally be explained by the turbulent nature of black hole accretion, which is supported by the fact that the more turbulent retrograde models can explain the multi-epoch observations better than the prograde models. The EHT data are inconsistent with the tilted models in our model image library. Assuming that the black hole spin axis and its large-scale jet direction are roughly aligned, we expect the brightest part of the ring to be most commonly observed 90 deg clockwise from the forward jet. This prediction can be statistically tested through future observations.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The persistent shadow of the supermassive black hole of M87: II. Model comparisons and theoretical interpretations |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1051/0004-6361/202451296 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202451296 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Authors 2025. Open Access article, published by EDP Sciences, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This article is published in open access under the Subscribe to Open model. Subscribe to A&A to support open access publication. |
| Keywords: | Accretion, accretion disks / black hole physics / gravitation / galaxies: active / galaxies: individual: M87 / galaxies: jets |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Space and Climate Physics |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10204538 |
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