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  • American Astronomical Society  (19)
  • Azulay, Rebecca  (19)
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  • American Astronomical Society  (19)
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  • 1
    In: The Astrophysical Journal Letters, American Astronomical Society, Vol. 911, No. 1 ( 2021-04-01), p. L11-
    Abstract: In 2017, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration succeeded in capturing the first direct image of the center of the M87 galaxy. The asymmetric ring morphology and size are consistent with theoretical expectations for a weakly accreting supermassive black hole of mass ∼6.5 × 10 9 M ⊙ . The EHTC also partnered with several international facilities in space and on the ground, to arrange an extensive, quasi-simultaneous multi-wavelength campaign. This Letter presents the results and analysis of this campaign, as well as the multi-wavelength data as a legacy data repository. We captured M87 in a historically low state, and the core flux dominates over HST-1 at high energies, making it possible to combine core flux constraints with the more spatially precise very long baseline interferometry data. We present the most complete simultaneous multi-wavelength spectrum of the active nucleus to date, and discuss the complexity and caveats of combining data from different spatial scales into one broadband spectrum. We apply two heuristic, isotropic leptonic single-zone models to provide insight into the basic source properties, but conclude that a structured jet is necessary to explain M87’s spectrum. We can exclude that the simultaneous γ -ray emission is produced via inverse Compton emission in the same region producing the EHT mm-band emission, and further conclude that the γ -rays can only be produced in the inner jets (inward of HST-1) if there are strongly particle-dominated regions. Direct synchrotron emission from accelerated protons and secondaries cannot yet be excluded.
    Type of Medium: Online Resource
    ISSN: 2041-8205 , 2041-8213
    Language: Unknown
    Publisher: American Astronomical Society
    Publication Date: 2021
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2207648-7
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2006858-X
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  • 2
    In: The Astrophysical Journal Letters, American Astronomical Society, Vol. 930, No. 2 ( 2022-05-01), p. L19-
    Abstract: The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) observed the compact radio source, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), in the Galactic Center on 2017 April 5–11 in the 1.3 mm wavelength band. At the same time, interferometric array data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array and the Submillimeter Array were collected, providing Sgr A* light curves simultaneous with the EHT observations. These data sets, complementing the EHT very long baseline interferometry, are characterized by a cadence and signal-to-noise ratio previously unattainable for Sgr A* at millimeter wavelengths, and they allow for the investigation of source variability on timescales as short as a minute. While most of the light curves correspond to a low variability state of Sgr A*, the April 11 observations follow an X-ray flare and exhibit strongly enhanced variability. All of the light curves are consistent with a red-noise process, with a power spectral density (PSD) slope measured to be between −2 and −3 on timescales between 1 minute and several hours. Our results indicate a steepening of the PSD slope for timescales shorter than 0.3 hr. The spectral energy distribution is flat at 220 GHz, and there are no time lags between the 213 and 229 GHz frequency bands, suggesting low optical depth for the event horizon scale source. We characterize Sgr A*’s variability, highlighting the different behavior observed just after the X-ray flare, and use Gaussian process modeling to extract a decorrelation timescale and a PSD slope. We also investigate the systematic calibration uncertainties by analyzing data from independent data reduction pipelines.
    Type of Medium: Online Resource
    ISSN: 2041-8205 , 2041-8213
    Language: Unknown
    Publisher: American Astronomical Society
    Publication Date: 2022
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2207648-7
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2006858-X
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  • 3
    In: The Astrophysical Journal Letters, American Astronomical Society, Vol. 910, No. 1 ( 2021-03-01), p. L13-
    Abstract: Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) observations at 230 GHz have now imaged polarized emission around the supermassive black hole in M87 on event-horizon scales. This polarized synchrotron radiation probes the structure of magnetic fields and the plasma properties near the black hole. Here we compare the resolved polarization structure observed by the EHT, along with simultaneous unresolved observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, to expectations from theoretical models. The low fractional linear polarization in the resolved image suggests that the polarization is scrambled on scales smaller than the EHT beam, which we attribute to Faraday rotation internal to the emission region. We estimate the average density n e ∼ 10 4–7 cm −3 , magnetic field strength B ∼ 1–30 G, and electron temperature T e ∼ (1–12) × 10 10 K of the radiating plasma in a simple one-zone emission model. We show that the net azimuthal linear polarization pattern may result from organized, poloidal magnetic fields in the emission region. In a quantitative comparison with a large library of simulated polarimetric images from general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations, we identify a subset of physical models that can explain critical features of the polarimetric EHT observations while producing a relativistic jet of sufficient power. The consistent GRMHD models are all of magnetically arrested accretion disks, where near-horizon magnetic fields are dynamically important. We use the models to infer a mass accretion rate onto the black hole in M87 of (3–20) × 10 −4 M ⊙ yr −1 .
    Type of Medium: Online Resource
    ISSN: 2041-8205 , 2041-8213
    Language: Unknown
    Publisher: American Astronomical Society
    Publication Date: 2021
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2207648-7
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2006858-X
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  • 4
    In: The Astrophysical Journal Letters, American Astronomical Society, Vol. 930, No. 2 ( 2022-05-01), p. L14-
    Abstract: We present the first event-horizon-scale images and spatiotemporal analysis of Sgr A* taken with the Event Horizon Telescope in 2017 April at a wavelength of 1.3 mm. Imaging of Sgr A* has been conducted through surveys over a wide range of imaging assumptions using the classical CLEAN algorithm, regularized maximum likelihood methods, and a Bayesian posterior sampling method. Different prescriptions have been used to account for scattering effects by the interstellar medium toward the Galactic center. Mitigation of the rapid intraday variability that characterizes Sgr A* has been carried out through the addition of a “variability noise budget” in the observed visibilities, facilitating the reconstruction of static full-track images. Our static reconstructions of Sgr A* can be clustered into four representative morphologies that correspond to ring images with three different azimuthal brightness distributions and a small cluster that contains diverse nonring morphologies. Based on our extensive analysis of the effects of sparse ( u , v )-coverage, source variability, and interstellar scattering, as well as studies of simulated visibility data, we conclude that the Event Horizon Telescope Sgr A* data show compelling evidence for an image that is dominated by a bright ring of emission with a ring diameter of ∼50 μ as, consistent with the expected “shadow” of a 4 × 10 6 M ⊙ black hole in the Galactic center located at a distance of 8 kpc.
    Type of Medium: Online Resource
    ISSN: 2041-8205 , 2041-8213
    Language: Unknown
    Publisher: American Astronomical Society
    Publication Date: 2022
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2207648-7
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2006858-X
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  • 5
    In: The Astrophysical Journal, American Astronomical Society, Vol. 912, No. 1 ( 2021-05-01), p. 35-
    Abstract: Synchrotron radiation from hot gas near a black hole results in a polarized image. The image polarization is determined by effects including the orientation of the magnetic field in the emitting region, relativistic motion of the gas, strong gravitational lensing by the black hole, and parallel transport in the curved spacetime. We explore these effects using a simple model of an axisymmetric, equatorial accretion disk around a Schwarzschild black hole. By using an approximate expression for the null geodesics derived by Beloborodov and conservation of the Walker–Penrose constant, we provide analytic estimates for the image polarization. We test this model using currently favored general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of M87*, using ring parameters given by the simulations. For a subset of these with modest Faraday effects, we show that the ring model broadly reproduces the polarimetric image morphology. Our model also predicts the polarization evolution for compact flaring regions, such as those observed from Sgr A* with GRAVITY. With suitably chosen parameters, our simple model can reproduce the EVPA pattern and relative polarized intensity in Event Horizon Telescope images of M87*. Under the physically motivated assumption that the magnetic field trails the fluid velocity, this comparison is consistent with the clockwise rotation inferred from total intensity images.
    Type of Medium: Online Resource
    ISSN: 0004-637X , 1538-4357
    RVK:
    Language: Unknown
    Publisher: American Astronomical Society
    Publication Date: 2021
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2207648-7
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 1473835-1
    SSG: 16,12
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  • 6
    In: The Astrophysical Journal, American Astronomical Society, Vol. 943, No. 2 ( 2023-02-01), p. 170-
    Abstract: We report on the observations of the quasar NRAO 530 with the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) on 2017 April 5−7, when NRAO 530 was used as a calibrator for the EHT observations of Sagittarius A*. At z = 0.902, this is the most distant object imaged by the EHT so far. We reconstruct the first images of the source at 230 GHz, at an unprecedented angular resolution of ∼20 μ as, both in total intensity and in linear polarization (LP). We do not detect source variability, allowing us to represent the whole data set with static images. The images reveal a bright feature located on the southern end of the jet, which we associate with the core. The feature is linearly polarized, with a fractional polarization of ∼5%–8%, and it has a substructure consisting of two components. Their observed brightness temperature suggests that the energy density of the jet is dominated by the magnetic field. The jet extends over 60 μ as along a position angle ∼ −28°. It includes two features with orthogonal directions of polarization (electric vector position angle), parallel and perpendicular to the jet axis, consistent with a helical structure of the magnetic field in the jet. The outermost feature has a particularly high degree of LP, suggestive of a nearly uniform magnetic field. Future EHT observations will probe the variability of the jet structure on microarcsecond scales, while simultaneous multiwavelength monitoring will provide insight into the high-energy emission origin.
    Type of Medium: Online Resource
    ISSN: 0004-637X , 1538-4357
    RVK:
    Language: Unknown
    Publisher: American Astronomical Society
    Publication Date: 2023
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2207648-7
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 1473835-1
    SSG: 16,12
    Location Call Number Limitation Availability
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  • 7
    In: The Astrophysical Journal, American Astronomical Society, Vol. 934, No. 2 ( 2022-08-01), p. 145-
    Abstract: The blazar J1924–2914 is a primary Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) calibrator for the Galactic center’s black hole Sagittarius A*. Here we present the first total and linearly polarized intensity images of this source obtained with the unprecedented 20 μ as resolution of the EHT. J1924–2914 is a very compact flat-spectrum radio source with strong optical variability and polarization. In April 2017 the source was observed quasi-simultaneously with the EHT (April 5–11), the Global Millimeter VLBI Array (April 3), and the Very Long Baseline Array (April 28), giving a novel view of the source at four observing frequencies, 230, 86, 8.7, and 2.3 GHz. These observations probe jet properties from the subparsec to 100 pc scales. We combine the multifrequency images of J1924–2914 to study the source morphology. We find that the jet exhibits a characteristic bending, with a gradual clockwise rotation of the jet projected position angle of about 90° between 2.3 and 230 GHz. Linearly polarized intensity images of J1924–2914 with the extremely fine resolution of the EHT provide evidence for ordered toroidal magnetic fields in the blazar compact core.
    Type of Medium: Online Resource
    ISSN: 0004-637X , 1538-4357
    RVK:
    Language: Unknown
    Publisher: American Astronomical Society
    Publication Date: 2022
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2207648-7
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 1473835-1
    SSG: 16,12
    Location Call Number Limitation Availability
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  • 8
    In: The Astrophysical Journal, American Astronomical Society, Vol. 925, No. 1 ( 2022-01-01), p. 13-
    Abstract: The black hole images obtained with the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) are expected to be variable at the dynamical timescale near their horizons. For the black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy, this timescale (5–61 days) is comparable to the 6 day extent of the 2017 EHT observations. Closure phases along baseline triangles are robust interferometric observables that are sensitive to the expected structural changes of the images but are free of station-based atmospheric and instrumental errors. We explored the day-to-day variability in closure-phase measurements on all six linearly independent nontrivial baseline triangles that can be formed from the 2017 observations. We showed that three triangles exhibit very low day-to-day variability, with a dispersion of ∼3°–5°. The only triangles that exhibit substantially higher variability (∼90°–180°) are the ones with baselines that cross the visibility amplitude minima on the u – v plane, as expected from theoretical modeling. We used two sets of general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations to explore the dependence of the predicted variability on various black hole and accretion-flow parameters. We found that changing the magnetic field configuration, electron temperature model, or black hole spin has a marginal effect on the model consistency with the observed level of variability. On the other hand, the most discriminating image characteristic of models is the fractional width of the bright ring of emission. Models that best reproduce the observed small level of variability are characterized by thin ring-like images with structures dominated by gravitational lensing effects and thus least affected by turbulence in the accreting plasmas.
    Type of Medium: Online Resource
    ISSN: 0004-637X , 1538-4357
    RVK:
    Language: Unknown
    Publisher: American Astronomical Society
    Publication Date: 2022
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2207648-7
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 1473835-1
    SSG: 16,12
    Location Call Number Limitation Availability
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  • 9
    In: The Astrophysical Journal, American Astronomical Society, Vol. 950, No. 1 ( 2023-06-01), p. 35-
    Abstract: Interpretation of resolved polarized images of black holes by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) requires predictions of the polarized emission observable by an Earth-based instrument for a particular model of the black hole accretion system. Such predictions are generated by general relativistic radiative transfer (GRRT) codes, which integrate the equations of polarized radiative transfer in curved spacetime. A selection of ray-tracing GRRT codes used within the EHT Collaboration is evaluated for accuracy and consistency in producing a selection of test images, demonstrating that the various methods and implementations of radiative transfer calculations are highly consistent. When imaging an analytic accretion model, we find that all codes produce images similar within a pixel-wise normalized mean squared error (NMSE) of 0.012 in the worst case. When imaging a snapshot from a cell-based magnetohydrodynamic simulation, we find all test images to be similar within NMSEs of 0.02, 0.04, 0.04, and 0.12 in Stokes I , Q , U , and V , respectively. We additionally find the values of several image metrics relevant to published EHT results to be in agreement to much better precision than measurement uncertainties.
    Type of Medium: Online Resource
    ISSN: 0004-637X , 1538-4357
    RVK:
    Language: Unknown
    Publisher: American Astronomical Society
    Publication Date: 2023
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2207648-7
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 1473835-1
    SSG: 16,12
    Location Call Number Limitation Availability
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  • 10
    In: The Astrophysical Journal Letters, American Astronomical Society, Vol. 930, No. 2 ( 2022-05-01), p. L20-
    Abstract: We present a framework for characterizing the spatiotemporal power spectrum of the variability expected from the horizon-scale emission structure around supermassive black holes, and we apply this framework to a library of general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations and associated general relativistic ray-traced images relevant for Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) observations of Sgr A*. We find that the variability power spectrum is generically a red-noise process in both the temporal and spatial dimensions, with the peak in power occurring on the longest timescales and largest spatial scales. When both the time-averaged source structure and the spatially integrated light-curve variability are removed, the residual power spectrum exhibits a universal broken power-law behavior. On small spatial frequencies, the residual power spectrum rises as the square of the spatial frequency and is proportional to the variance in the centroid of emission. Beyond some peak in variability power, the residual power spectrum falls as that of the time-averaged source structure, which is similar across simulations; this behavior can be naturally explained if the variability arises from a multiplicative random field that has a steeper high-frequency power-law index than that of the time-averaged source structure. We briefly explore the ability of power spectral variability studies to constrain physical parameters relevant for the GRMHD simulations, which can be scaled to provide predictions for black holes in a range of systems in the optically thin regime. We present specific expectations for the behavior of the M87* and Sgr A* accretion flows as observed by the EHT.
    Type of Medium: Online Resource
    ISSN: 2041-8205 , 2041-8213
    Language: Unknown
    Publisher: American Astronomical Society
    Publication Date: 2022
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2207648-7
    detail.hit.zdb_id: 2006858-X
    Location Call Number Limitation Availability
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