Gravitational Test beyond the First Post-Newtonian Order with the Shadow of the M87 Black Hole
Journal article, 2020
The 2017 Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) observations of the central source in M87 have led to the first measurement of the size of a black-hole shadow. This observation offers a new and clean gravitational test of the black-hole metric in the strong-field regime. We show analytically that spacetimes that deviate from the Kerr metric but satisfy weak-field tests can lead to large deviations in the predicted black-hole shadows that are inconsistent with even the current EHT measurements. We use numerical calculations of regular, parametric, non-Kerr metrics to identify the common characteristic among these different parametrizations that control the predicted shadow size. We show that the shadow-size measurements place significant constraints on deviation parameters that control the second post-Newtonian and higher orders of each metric and are, therefore, inaccessible to weak-field tests. The new constraints are complementary to those imposed by observations of gravitational waves from stellar-mass sources.
Author
Dimitrios Psaltis
University of Arizona
Lia Medeiros
Institute for Advanced Study
Pierre Christian
University of Arizona
Feryal Ozel
University of Arizona
Kazunori Akiyama
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Harvard University
Antxon Alberdi
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Walter Alef
Max Planck Society
Keiichi Asada
Academia Sinica
Rebecca Azulay
Max Planck Society
Universitat de Valencia
David Ball
University of Arizona
Mislav Balokovic
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
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)
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
Dominique Broguiere
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Thomas Bronzwaer
Radboud University
Young Byun
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
University of Science and Technology (UST)
John E. Carlstrom
University of Chicago
Andrew Chael
Princeton 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
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute
University of Science and Technology (UST)
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
University of Naples Federico II
Monte Sant’Angelo University
Roger Deane
University of Pretoria
Rhodes University
Jessica Dempsey
East Asian Observatory
Gregory Desvignes
Paris Descartes University
Jason Dexter
University of Colorado at Boulder
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
Charles F. Gammie
University of Illinois
Roberto Garcia
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Olivier Gentaz
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Ciriaco Goddi
Radboud University
Leiden University
Jose L. Gomez
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
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
Ronald Hesper
University of Groningen
Luis C. Ho
Beijing University of Technology
Paul Ho
Academia Sinica
Mareki Honma
University of Tokyo
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
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
Wu Jiang
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Alejandra Jimenez-Rosales
Max Planck Society
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
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
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
NSF's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab)
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
Rocco Lico
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Max Planck Society
Jun Liu
Max Planck Society
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
Colin Lonsdale
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Ru-Sen Lu
Max Planck Society
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jirong Mao
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Sera Markoff
Radboud University
University of Amsterdam
Daniel P. Marrone
University of Arizona
Alan P. Marscher
Boston University
Ivan Marti-Vidal
Universitat de Valencia
Satoki Matsushita
Academia Sinica
Yosuke Mizuno
University of Amsterdam
Goethe University Frankfurt
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Izumi Mizuno
East Asian Observatory
James M. Moran
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Harvard University
Kotaro Moriyama
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Monika Moscibrodzka
Radboud University
Cornelia Muller
Max Planck Society
Radboud University
Gibwa Musoke
University of Amsterdam
Radboud University
Alejandro Mus Mejias
Universitat de Valencia
Hiroshi Nagai
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI)
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Neil M. Nagar
University of Concepcion
Ramesh Narayan
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Gopal Narayanan
University of Massachusetts
Iniyan Natarajan
Rhodes University
Roberto Neri
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Hector Olivares
Goethe University Frankfurt
Hiroki Okino
University of Tokyo
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Aristeidis Noutsos
Max Planck Society
Tomoaki Oyama
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Daniel C. M. Palumbo
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Harvard University
Jongho Park
Academia Sinica
Nimesh Patel
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Ue-Li Pen
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
University of Toronto
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Vincent Pietu
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Richard Plambeck
University of California at Berkeley
Aleksandar PopStefanija
University of Massachusetts
Ben Prather
University of Illinois
Jorge A. Preciado-Lopez
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Venkatessh Ramakrishnan
University of Concepcion
Ramprasad Rao
Academia Sinica
Mark G. Rawlings
East Asian Observatory
Alexander W. Raymond
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Harvard University
Bart Ripperda
Princeton University
Flatiron Institute
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
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics
Mahito Sasada
Hiroshima University
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Tuomas Savolainen
Max Planck Society
Aalto University
F. Peter Schloerb
University of Massachusetts
Karl-Friedrich Schuster
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Lijing Shao
Beijing University of Technology
Max Planck Society
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
Remo P. J. Tilanus
Leiden University
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)
Radboud University
University of Arizona
Michael Titus
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Pablo Torne
Max Planck Society
Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)
Tyler Trent
University of Arizona
Efthalia Traianou
Max Planck Society
Sascha Trippe
Brandeis University
Ilse van Bemmel
University of Central Lancashire
Huib Jan van Langevelde
Harvard University
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Daniel R. van Rossum
Max Planck Society
Jan Wagner
Max Planck Society
John Wardle
Brandeis University
Derek Ward-Thompson
University of Central Lancashire
Jonathan Weintroub
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Harvard University
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
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Qingwen Wu
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Doosoo Yoon
University of Amsterdam
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
Shan-Shan Zhao
Nanjing University
Radboud University
Physical Review Letters
0031-9007 (ISSN) 1079-7114 (eISSN)
Vol. 125 14 141104Subject Categories
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
DOI
10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.141104
PubMed
33064506