First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. VI. The Shadow and Mass of the Central Black Hole
Journal article, 2019
We present measurements of the properties of the central radio source in M87 using Event Horizon Telescope data obtained during the 2017 campaign. We develop and fit geometric crescent models (asymmetric rings with interior brightness depressions) using two independent sampling algorithms that consider distinct representations of the visibility data. We show that the crescent family of models is statistically preferred over other comparably complex geometric models that we explore. We calibrate the geometric model parameters using general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) models of the emission region and estimate physical properties of the source. We further fit images generated from GRMHD models directly to the data. We compare the derived emission region and black hole parameters from these analyses with those recovered from reconstructed images. There is a remarkable consistency among all methods and data sets. We find that >50% of the total flux at arcsecond scales comes from near the horizon, and that the emission is dramatically suppressed interior to this region by a factor >10, providing direct evidence of the predicted shadow of a black hole. Across all methods, we measure a crescent diameter of 42 +/- 3 mu as and constrain its fractional width to be <0.5. Associating the crescent feature with the emission surrounding the black hole shadow, we infer an angular gravitational radius of GM/Dc(2) = 3.8 +/- 0.4 mu as. Folding in a distance measurement of 16.8(-0.7)(+0.8) gives a black hole mass of M = 6.5. 0.2 vertical bar(stat) +/- 0.7 vertical bar(sys) x 10(9) M-circle dot. This measurement from lensed emission near the event horizon is consistent with the presence of a central Kerr black hole, as predicted by the general theory of relativity.
galaxies: individual (M87)
gravitation
black hole physics
techniques: interferometric
techniques: high angular resolution
Author
Kazunori Akiyama
Harvard University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Antxon Alberdi
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Walter Alef
Max Planck Society
Keiichi Asada
Academia Sinica
Rebecca Azulay
Universitat de Valencia
Max Planck Society
Anne-Kathrin Baczko
Max Planck Society
David Ball
University of Arizona
Mislav Balokovic
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Harvard University
John Barrett
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Dan Bintley
East Asian Observatory
Lindy Blackburn
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Harvard University
Wilfred Boland
Nederlandse Onderzoekschool voor Astronomie (NOVA)
Katherine L. Bouman
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Harvard University
Geoffrey C. Bower
Academia Sinica
Michael Bremer
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Christiaan D. Brinkerink
Radboud University
Roger Brissenden
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Silke Britzen
Max Planck Society
Avery E. Broderick
University of Waterloo
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Dominique Broguiere
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Thomas Bronzwaer
Radboud University
Do-Young Byun
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
University of Science and Technology (UST)
John E. Carlstrom
University of Chicago
Andrew Chael
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Harvard University
Chi-Kwan Chan
University of Arizona
Shami Chatterjee
Cornell University
Koushik Chatterjee
University of Amsterdam
Ming-Tang Chen
Academia Sinica
Yongjun Chen
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Ilje Cho
University of Science and Technology (UST)
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
Pierre Christian
University of Arizona
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
John Conway
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory
James M. Cordes
Cornell University
Geoffrey B. Crew
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Yuzhu Cui
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI)
Jordy Davelaar
Radboud University
Mariafelicia De Laurentis
Goethe University Frankfurt
University of Naples Federico II
National Institute for Nuclear Physics
Roger Deane
University of Pretoria
Rhodes University
Jessica Dempsey
East Asian Observatory
Gregory Desvignes
Max Planck Society
Jason Dexter
Max Planck Society
Sheperd S. Doeleman
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Ralph P. Eatough
Max Planck Society
Heino Falcke
Radboud University
Vincent L. Fish
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Ed Fomalont
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Raquel Fraga-Encinas
Radboud University
Per Friberg
East Asian Observatory
Christian M. Fromm
Goethe University Frankfurt
Jose L. Gomez
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Peter Galison
Harvard University
Charles F. Gammie
University of Illinois
Roberto Garcia
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Olivier Gentaz
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Boris Georgiev
University of Waterloo
Ciriaco Goddi
Radboud University
Leiden University
Roman Gold
Goethe University Frankfurt
Minfeng Gu
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Mark Gurwell
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Kazuhiro Hada
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI)
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Michael H. Hecht
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Ronald Hesper
University of Groningen
Luis C. Ho
Beijing University of Technology
Paul Ho
Academia Sinica
Mareki Honma
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI)
Chih-Wei L. Huang
Academia Sinica
Lei Huang
Chinese Academy of Sciences
David H. Hughes
National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics
Shiro Ikeda
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI)
University of Tokyo
The Institute of Statistical Mathematics
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Makoto Inoue
Academia Sinica
Sara Issaoun
Radboud University
David J. James
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Buell T. Jannuzi
University of Arizona
Michael Janssen
Radboud University
Britton Jeter
University of Waterloo
Wu Jiang
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Michael D. Johnson
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Svetlana Jorstad
Boston University
Saint Petersburg State University - Spsu
Taehyun Jung
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
University of Science and Technology (UST)
Mansour Karami
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
University of Waterloo
Ramesh Karuppusamy
Max Planck Society
Tomohisa Kawashima
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Garrett K. Keating
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Mark Kettenis
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)
Jae-Young Kim
Max Planck Society
Junhan Kim
University of Arizona
Jongsoo Kim
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
Motoki Kino
Kogakuin University of Technology and Engineering
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Jun Yi Koay
Academia Sinica
Patrick M. Koch
Academia Sinica
Shoko Koyama
Academia Sinica
Michael Kramer
Max Planck Society
Carsten Kramer
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Thomas P. Krichbaum
Max Planck Society
Cheng-Yu Kuo
National Sun Yat-Sen University
Tod R. Lauer
National Optical Astronomy Observatory
Sang-Sung Lee
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
Yan-Rong Li
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhiyuan Li
Nanjing University
Michael Lindqvist
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory
Kuo Liu
Max Planck Society
Elisabetta Liuzzo
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Wen-Ping Lo
Academia Sinica
National Taiwan University
Andrei P. Lobanov
Max Planck Society
Laurent Loinard
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Colin Lonsdale
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Ru-Sen Lu
Max Planck Society
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Nicholas R. MacDonald
Max Planck Society
Jirong Mao
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Sera Markoff
University of Amsterdam
Daniel P. Marrone
University of Arizona
Alan P. Marscher
Boston University
Ivan Marti-Vidal
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory
Satoki Matsushita
Academia Sinica
Lynn D. Matthews
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Lia Medeiros
University of Arizona
University of California at Santa Barbara
Karl M. Menten
Max Planck Society
Yosuke Mizuno
Goethe University Frankfurt
Izumi Mizuno
East Asian Observatory
James M. Moran
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Harvard University
Kotaro Moriyama
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Monika Moscibrodzka
Radboud University
Cornelia Mueller
Max Planck Society
Radboud University
Hiroshi Nagai
University of Naples Federico II
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Neil M. Nagar
University of Concepcion
Masanori Nakamura
Academia Sinica
Ramesh Narayan
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Harvard University
Gopal Narayanan
University of Massachusetts
Iniyan Natarajan
Rhodes University
Roberto Neri
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Chunchong Ni
University of Waterloo
Aristeidis Noutsos
Max Planck Society
Hiroki Okino
University of Tokyo
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Hector Olivares
Goethe University Frankfurt
Tomoaki Oyama
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Feryal Ozel
University of Arizona
Daniel C. M. Palumbo
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Nimesh Patel
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Ue-Li Pen
University of Toronto
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
Dominic W. Pesce
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Harvard University
Vincent Pietu
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Richard Plambeck
University of California at Berkeley
Aleksandar PopStefanija
University of Massachusetts
Oliver Porth
University of Amsterdam
Goethe University Frankfurt
Ben Prather
University of Illinois
Jorge A. Preciado-Lopez
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Dimitrios Psaltis
University of Arizona
Hung-Yi Pu
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Venkatessh Ramakrishnan
University of Concepcion
Ramprasad Rao
Academia Sinica
Mark G. Rawlings
East Asian Observatory
Alexander W. Raymond
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Luciano Rezzolla
Goethe University Frankfurt
Bart Ripperda
Goethe University Frankfurt
Freek Roelofs
Radboud University
Alan Rogers
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Eduardo Ros
Max Planck Society
Mel Rose
University of Arizona
Arash Roshanineshat
University of Arizona
Helge Rottmann
Max Planck Society
Alan L. Roy
Max Planck Society
Chet Ruszczyk
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Benjamin R. Ryan
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Kazi L. J. Rygl
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Salvador Sanchez
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
David Sanchez-Arguelles
National Council for Science and Technology Mexico
National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics
Mahito Sasada
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Hiroshima University
Tuomas Savolainen
Max Planck Society
Aalto University
F. Peter Schloerb
University of Massachusetts
Karl-Friedrich Schuster
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Lijing Shao
Max Planck Society
Beijing University of Technology
Zhiqiang Shen
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Des Small
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)
Bong Won Sohn
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
Yonsei University
University of Science and Technology (UST)
Jason SooHoo
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Fumie Tazaki
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Paul Tiede
University of Waterloo
Remo P. J. Tilanus
Radboud University
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)
Michael Titus
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Kenji Toma
Tohoku University
Pablo Torne
Max Planck Society
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Tyler Trent
University of Arizona
Sascha Trippe
Seoul National University
Shuichiro Tsuda
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Ilse van Bemmel
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)
Huib Jan van Langevelde
Leiden University
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)
Daniel R. van Rossum
Radboud University
Jan Wagner
Max Planck Society
John Wardle
Brandeis University
Jonathan Weintroub
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Norbert Wex
Max Planck Society
Robert Wharton
Max Planck Society
Maciek Wielgus
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Harvard University
George N. Wong
University of Illinois
Qingwen Wu
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Andre Young
Radboud University
Ken Young
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Ziri Younsi
University College London (UCL)
Goethe University Frankfurt
Feng Yuan
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Ye-Fei Yuan
University of Science and Technology of China
J. Anton Zensus
Max Planck Society
Guangyao Zhao
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
Shan-Shan Zhao
Nanjing University
Radboud University
Ziyan Zhu
Harvard University
Joseph R. Farah
University of Massachusetts Boston
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Zheng Meyer-Zhao
Academia Sinica
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
Daniel Michalik
University of Chicago
European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA ESTEC)
Andrew Nadolski
University of Illinois
Hiroaki Nishioka
Academia Sinica
Nicolas Pradel
Academia Sinica
Rurik A. Primiani
Systems & Technology Research
Kamal Souccar
University of Massachusetts
Laura Vertatschitsch
Systems & Technology Research
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Paul Yamaguchi
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Astrophysical Journal Letters
2041-8205 (ISSN) 2041-8213 (eISSN)
Vol. 875 1 L6Subject Categories
Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Geophysics
DOI
10.3847/2041-8213/ab1141