THEMIS: A Parameter Estimation Framework for the Event Horizon Telescope
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2020

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) provides the unprecedented ability to directly resolve the structure and dynamics of black hole emission regions on scales smaller than their horizons. This has the potential to critically probe the mechanisms by which black holes accrete and launch outflows, and the structure of supermassive black hole spacetimes. However, accessing this information is a formidable analysis challenge for two reasons. First, the EHT natively produces a variety of data types that encode information about the image structure in nontrivial ways; these are subject to a variety of systematic effects associated with very long baseline interferometry and are supplemented by a wide variety of auxiliary data on the primary EHT targets from decades of other observations. Second, models of the emission regions and their interaction with the black hole are complex, highly uncertain, and computationally expensive to construct. As a result, the scientific utilization of EHT observations requires a flexible, extensible, and powerful analysis framework. We present such a framework, Themis, which defines a set of interfaces between models, data, and sampling algorithms that facilitates future development. We describe the design and currently existing components of Themis, how Themis has been validated thus far, and present additional analyses made possible by Themis that illustrate its capabilities. Importantly, we demonstrate that Themis is able to reproduce prior EHT analyses, extend these, and do so in a computationally efficient manner that can efficiently exploit modern high-performance computing facilities. Themis has already been used extensively in the scientific analysis and interpretation of the first EHT observations of M87.

Författare

Avery E. Broderick

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

R. Gold

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

Mansour Karami

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

Jorge A. Preciado-López

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

Paul Tiede

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

Hung-Yi Pu

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

Kazunori Akiyama

National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Antxon Alberdi

Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucía (IAA)

Walter Alef

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

K. Asada

Academia Sinica

R. Azulay

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

A. K. Baczko

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Mislav Baloković

Harvard University

John Barrett

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Dan Bintley

East Asian Observatory

Lindy Blackburn

Harvard University

W. Boland

Nederlandse Onderzoekschool voor Astronomie (NOVA)

K. L. Bouman

Harvard University

G. C. Bower

Academia Sinica

M. Bremer

Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)

C. D. Brinkerink

Radboud Universiteit

Roger Brissenden

Harvard University

Silke Britzen

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

D. Broguière

Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)

Thomas Bronzwaer

Radboud Universiteit

Do Young Byun

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

J. E. Carlstrom

University of Chicago

A. Chael

Harvard University

S. Chatterjee

Cornell University

Koushik Chatterjee

Universiteit Van Amsterdam

Ming Tang Chen

Academia Sinica

Yongjun Chen

Shanghai Astronomical Observatory

I. Cho

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

John Conway

Chalmers, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Onsala rymdobservatorium

James M. Cordes

Cornell University

G. Crew

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Yuzhu Cui

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

Jordy Davelaar

Radboud Universiteit

Mariafelicia De Laurentis

Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main

R. P. Deane

Universiteit van Pretoria

Jessica Dempsey

East Asian Observatory

Gregory Desvignes

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

S. Doeleman

Harvard University

Ralph P. Eatough

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

H.D. Falcke

Radboud Universiteit

V. Fish

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Ed Fomalont

National Radio Astronomy Observatory

R. Fraga-Encinas

Radboud Universiteit

P. Friberg

East Asian Observatory

Christian M. Fromm

Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main

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

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

C. Goddi

Radboud Universiteit

J. L. Gomez

Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucía (IAA)

Minfeng Gu

Shanghai Astronomical Observatory

M. Gurwell

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

K. Hada

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

Michael H. Hecht

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

R. Hesper

Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

Luis C. Ho

Beijing University of Technology

P. Ho

Academia Sinica

M. Honma

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

Chih Wei L. Huang

Academia Sinica

Lei Huang

Shanghai Astronomical Observatory

D. Hughes

Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrońica

Makoto Inoue

Academia Sinica

S. Issaoun

Radboud Universiteit

David J. James

Harvard University

Michael Janssen

Radboud Universiteit

Britton Jeter

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

Wu Jiang

Shanghai Astronomical Observatory

Alejandra Jimenez-Rosales

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Michael D. Johnson

Harvard University

S.G. Jorstad

Saint Petersburg State University - Spsu

Taehyun Jung

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

R. Karuppusamy

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Tomohisa Kawashima

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

G. Keating

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

M. M. Kettenis

Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)

Jae-Young Kim

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Jongsoo Kim

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

M. Kino

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

Jun Yi Koay

Academia Sinica

Patrick M. Koch

Academia Sinica

Shoko Koyama

Academia Sinica

M.A. Kramer

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

C. Kramer

Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)

T.P. Krichbaum

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Cheng-Yu Kuo

National Sun Yat-Sen University

Sang Sung Lee

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

Yan Rong Li

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Zhiyuan Li

Nanjing University

Michael Lindqvist

Chalmers, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Onsala rymdobservatorium

R. Lico

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Kuo Liu

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Elisabetta Liuzzo

Istituto di Radioastronomia

Wen-Ping Lo

Academia Sinica

A. P. Lobanov

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

L. Loinard

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Colin Lonsdale

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

R.S. Lu

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

N. R. Macdonald

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Jirong Mao

Chinese Academy of Sciences

A. Marscher

Boston University

Ivan Marti-Vidal

Universitat de Valencia

S. Matsushita

Academia Sinica

Lynn D. Matthews

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

K. Menten

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Yosuke Mizuno

Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main

Izumi Mizuno

East Asian Observatory

James M. Moran

Harvard University

Kotaro Moriyama

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

M. Mościbrodzka

Radboud Universiteit

C. Müller

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

H. Nagai

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

N. M. Nagar

Universidad de Concepción

Masanori Nakamura

Academia Sinica

Ramesh Narayan

Harvard University

Gopal Narayanan

University of Massachusetts

Iniyan Natarajan

Rhodes University

R. Neri

Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)

Chunchong Ni

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

A. Noutsos

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Hiroki Okino

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

Héctor Olivares

Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main

G.N. Ortiz-León

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Tomoaki Oyama

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

Daniel C.M. Palumbo

Harvard University

Jongho Park

Academia Sinica

U. L. Pen

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

Dominic W. Pesce

Harvard University

Vincent Piétu

Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)

Richard L. Plambeck

University of California

Aleksandar PopStefanija

University of Massachusetts

Oliver Porth

Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main

Ben Prather

University of Illinois

Venkatessh Ramakrishnan

Universidad de Concepción

R. Rao

Academia Sinica

M.G. Rawlings

East Asian Observatory

Alexander W. Raymond

Harvard University

Luciano Rezzolla

Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main

Bart Ripperda

Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main

F. Roelofs

Radboud Universiteit

A.E.E. Rogers

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Eduardo Ros

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Mel Rose

University of Arizona

H. Rottmann

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

C. Ruszczyk

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Benjamin R. Ryan

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Kazi L.J. Rygl

Istituto di Radioastronomia

S. Sanchez

Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)

David Sánchez-Arguelles

Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrońica

Mahito Sasada

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

T. Savolainen

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

F. P. Schloerb

University of Massachusetts

K. Schuster

Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)

Lijing Shao

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Zhi Qiang Shen

Shanghai Astronomical Observatory

Des Small

Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)

B. W. Sohn

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

J. SooHoo

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Fumie Tazaki

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

R. P. J. Tilanus

Radboud Universiteit

M. Titus

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Kenji Toma

Tohoku University

Pablo Torne

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

E. Traianou

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

S. Trippe

Seoul National University

Shuichiro Tsuda

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

I. van Bemmel

Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)

H. J. van Langevelde

Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)

Daniel R. van Rossum

Radboud Universiteit

Jan Wagner

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

John Wardle

Brandeis University

J. Weintroub

Harvard University

Norbert Wex

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Robert Wharton

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

M. Wielgus

Harvard University

George N. Wong

University of Illinois

Qingwen Wu

Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Doosoo Yoon

Universiteit Van Amsterdam

A. Young

Radboud Universiteit

Ken Young

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Ziri Younsi

Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität Frankfurt am Main

Feng Yuan

Shanghai Astronomical Observatory

Ye-Fei Yuan

University of Science and Technology of China

A.J. Zensus

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

G. Y. Zhao

Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucía (IAA)

Shan-Shan Zhao

Radboud Universiteit

Ziyan Zhu

Harvard University

Astrophysical Journal

0004-637X (ISSN) 1538-4357 (eISSN)

Vol. 897 2 139

Ämneskategorier

Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi

DOI

10.3847/1538-4357/ab91a4

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2022-04-06