Person: Young, Ken
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Young
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Young, Ken
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Publication Event-Horizon-Scale Structure in the Supermassive Black Hole Candidate at the Galactic Centre(Nature Publishing Group, 2008) Doeleman, Sheperd; Weintroub, Jonathan; Rogers, Alan E. E.; Plambeck, Richard; Freund, Robert; Tilanus, Remo P. J.; Friberg, Per; Ziurys, Lucy M.; Moran, James; Corey, Brian; Young, Ken; Smythe, Daniel L.; Titus, Michael; Marrone, Daniel P.; Cappallo, Roger J.; Bock, Douglas C.-J.; Bower, Geoffrey C.; Chamberlin, Richard; Davis, Gary R.; Krichbaum, Thomas P.; Lamb, James; Maness, Holly; Niell, Arthur E.; Roy, Alan; Strittmatter, Peter; Werthimer, Daniel; Whitney, Alan R.; Woody, DavidThe cores of most galaxies are thought to harbour supermassive black holes, which power galactic nuclei by converting the gravitational energy of accreting matter into radiation. Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the compact source of radio, infrared and X-ray emission at the centre of the Milky Way, is the closest example of this phenomenon, with an estimated black hole mass that is 4,000,000 times that of the Sun. A long-standing astronomical goal is to resolve structures in the innermost accretion flow surrounding Sgr A*, where strong gravitational fields will distort the appearance of radiation emitted near the black hole. Radio observations at wavelengths of 3.5 mm and 7 mm have detected intrinsic structure in Sgr A*, but the spatial resolution of observations at these wavelengths is limited by interstellar scattering. Here we report observations at a wavelength of 1.3 mm that set a size of \(37^{+16}_{-10}\) microarcseconds on the intrinsic diameter of Sgr A*. This is less than the expected apparent size of the event horizon of the presumed black hole, suggesting that the bulk of Sgr A* emission may not be centred on the black hole, but arises in the surrounding accretion flow.Publication Submillimeter Array Imaging of the Maser Emission from the \(H30\alpha\) Radio Recombination Line in MWC 349A(American Astronomical Society, 2008) Weintroub, Jonathan; Moran, James; Wilner, David; Young, Ken; Rao, Ramprasad; Shinnaga, HirokoWe used the Submillimeter Array to map the angular distribution of the H30α recombination line (231.9 GHz) in the circumstellar region of the peculiar star MWC 349A. The resolution was 1.2'', but because of high signal-to-noise ratio we measured the positions of all maser components to accuracies better than 0.01'', at a velocity resolution of \(1 km s^{−1}\). The two strongest maser components (called high-velocity components) at velocities near –14 and \(32 km s^{−1}\) are separated by 0.048'' ± 0.001'' (60 AU) along a position angle of 102° ± 1°. The distribution of maser emission at velocities between and beyond these two strongest components were also provided. The continuum emission lies at the center of the maser distribution to within 10 mas. The masers appear to trace a nearly edge-on rotating disk structure, reminiscent of the water masers in Keplerian rotation in the nuclear accretion disk of the galaxy NGC 4258. However, the maser components in MWC 349A do not follow a simple Keplerian kinematic prescription with v ~ \(r^{−1/2}\), but have a larger power-law index. We explore the possibility that the high-velocity masers trace spiral density or shock waves. We also emphasize caution in the interpretation of relative centroid maser positions where the maser is not clearly resolved in position or velocity, and we present simulations that illustrate the range of applicability of the centroiding method.Publication Fine-Scale Structure of the Quasar 3C 279 Measured with 1.3 mm Very Long Baseline Interferometry(American Astronomical Society, 2013) Lu, Ru-Sen; Fish, Vincent L.; Akiyama, Kazunori; Doeleman, Sheperd; Algaba, Juan C.; Bower, Geoffrey C.; Brinkerink, Christiaan; Chamberlin, Richard; Crew, Geoffrey; Cappallo, Roger J.; Dexter, Matt; Freund, Robert; Friberg, Per; Gurwell, Mark; Ho, Paul T. P.; Honma, Mareki; Inoue, Makoto; Jorstad, Svetlana G.; Krichbaum, Thomas P.; Loinard, Laurent; MacMahon, David; Marrone, Daniel P.; Marscher, Alan P.; Moran, James; Plambeck, Richard; Pradel, Nicolas; Primiani, Rurik; Tilanus, Remo P. J.; Titus, Michael; Weintroub, Jonathan; Wright, Melvyn; Young, Ken; Ziurys, Lucy M.We report results from five day very long baseline interferometry observations of the well-known quasar 3C 279 at 1.3mm (230 GHz) in 2011. The measured nonzero closure phases on triangles including stations in Arizona, California, and Hawaii indicate that the source structure is spatially resolved. We find an unusual inner jet direction at scales of ~1 pc extending along the northwest-southeast direction \((P.A. = 127^{\circ} \pm 3^{\circ})\), as opposed to other (previously) reported measurements on scales of a few parsecs showing inner jet direction extending to the southwest. The 1.3mm structure corresponds closely with that observed in the central region of quasi-simultaneous super-resolution Very Long Baseline Array images at 7 mm. The closure phase changed significantly on the last day when compared with the rest of observations, indicating that the inner jet structure may be variable on daily timescales. The observed new direction of the inner jet shows inconsistency with the prediction of a class of jet precession models. Our observations indicate a brightness temperature of \(\sim 8 \times 1010 K\) in the 1.3mm core, much lower than that at centimeter wavelengths. Observations with better uv coverage and sensitivity in the coming years will allow the discrimination between different structure models and will provide direct images of the inner regions of the jet with 20-30 μas (5-7 light months) resolution.Publication 230 GHz VLBI observations of M87: event-horizon-scale structure at the enhanced very-high-energy γ-ray state in 2012(IOP Publishing, 2015) Akiyama, Kazunori; Lu, Ru-Sen; Fish, Vincent; Doeleman, Sheperd; Broderick, Avery; Dexter, Jason; Hada, Kazuhiro; Kino, Motoki; Nagai, Hiroshi; Honma, Mareki; Johnson, Michael; Algaba, Juan; Asada, Keiichi; Brinkerink, Christiaan; Blundell, Raymond; Bower, Geoffrey; Cappallo, Roger; Crew, Geoffrey; Dexter, Matt; Dzib, Sergio; Freund, Robert; Friberg, Per; Gurwell, Mark; Ho, Paul; Inoue, Makoto; Krichbaum, Thomas; Loinard, Laurent; MacMahon, David; Marrone, Daniel; Moran, James; Nakamura, Masanori; Nagar, Neil; Ortiz-Leon, Gisela; Plambeck, Richard; Pradel, Nicolas; Primiani, Rurik; Rogers, Alan; Roy, Alan; SooHoo, Jason; Tavares, Jonathan-León; Tilanus, Remo; Titus, Michael; Wagner, Jan; Weintroub, Jonathan; Yamaguchi, Paul; Young, Ken; Zensus, Anton; Ziurys, LucyWe report on 230 GHz (1.3 mm) VLBI observations of M87 with the Event Horizon Telescope using antennas on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, Mt. Graham in Arizona and Cedar Flat in California. For the first time, we have acquired 230 GHz VLBI interferometric phase information on M87 through measurement of closure phase on the triangle of long baselines. Most of the measured closure phases are consistent with 0◦ as expected by physically-motivated models for 230 GHz structure such as jet models and accretion disk models. The brightness temperature of the event-horizon-scale structure is ∼ 1 × 1010 K derived from the compact flux density of ∼ 1 Jy and the angular size of ∼ 40 µas ∼ 5.5 Rs, which is broadly consistent with the peak brightness of the radio cores at 1-86 GHz located within ∼ 102 Rs. Our observations occurred in the middle of an enhancement in very-high-energy (VHE) γ-ray flux, presumably originating in the vicinity of the central black hole. Our measurements, combined with results of multi-wavelength observations, favor a scenario in which the VHE region has an extended size of ∼20-60 Rs.Publication 1.3 mm Wavelength VLBI of Sagittarius A*: Detection of Time-Variable Emission on Event Horizon Scales(IOP Publishing, 2011) Fish, Vincent L.; Doeleman, Sheperd; Beaudoin, Christopher; Blundell, Raymond; Bolin, David E.; Bower, Geoffrey C.; Chamberlin, Richard; Freund, Robert; Friberg, Per; Gurwell, Mark; Honma, Mareki; Inoue, Makoto; Krichbaum, Thomas P.; Lamb, James; Marrone, Daniel P.; Moran, James; Oyama, Tomoaki; Plambeck, Richard; Primiani, Rurik; Rogers, Alan E. E.; Smythe, Daniel L.; SooHoo, Jason; Strittmatter, Peter; Tilanus, Remo P. J.; Titus, Michael; Weintroub, Jonathan; Wright, Melvyn; Woody, David; Young, Ken; Ziurys, Lucy M.Sagittarius A*, the ~4 × 106 M ☉ black hole candidate at the Galactic center, can be studied on Schwarzschild radius scales with (sub)millimeter wavelength very long baseline interferometry (VLBI). We report on 1.3 mm wavelength observations of Sgr A* using a VLBI array consisting of the JCMT on Mauna Kea, the Arizona Radio Observatory's Submillimeter Telescope on Mt. Graham in Arizona, and two telescopes of the CARMA array at Cedar Flat in California. Both Sgr A* and the quasar calibrator 1924–292 were observed over three consecutive nights, and both sources were clearly detected on all baselines. For the first time, we are able to extract 1.3 mm VLBI interferometer phase information on Sgr A* through measurement of closure phase on the triangle of baselines. On the third night of observing, the correlated flux density of Sgr A* on all VLBI baselines increased relative to the first two nights, providing strong evidence for time-variable change on scales of a few Schwarzschild radii. These results suggest that future VLBI observations with greater sensitivity and additional baselines will play a valuable role in determining the structure of emission near the event horizon of Sgr A*.Publication Interferometric Observation of the Highly Polarized SiO Maser Emission from the v = 1, J = 5-4 Transition Associated with VY Canis Majoris(IOP Publishing, 2004) Shinnaga, Hiroko; Moran, James; Young, Ken; Ho, Paul T. P.We used the Submillimeter Array to image the SiO maser emission in the v = 1, J = 5−4 transition associated with the peculiar red supergiant VY Canis Majoris. We identified seven maser components and measured their relative positions and linear polarization properties. Five of the maser components are coincident to within about 150 mas (∼ 200 AU at the distance of 1.5 kpc); most of them may originate in the circumstellar envelope at a radius of about 50 mas from the star along with the SiO masers in the lowest rotational transitions. Our measurements show that two of the maser components may be offset from the inner stellar envelope (at the 3σ level of significance) and may be part of a larger bipolar outflow associated with VY CMa identified by Shinnaga et al. The strongest maser feature at a velocity of 35.9 kms−1 has a 60 percent linear polarization, and its polarization direction is aligned with the bipolar axis. Such a high degree of polarization suggests that maser inversion is due to radiative pumping. Five of the other maser features have significant linear polarization.Publication Resolved magnetic-field structure and variability near the event horizon of Sagittarius A(American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2015) Johnson, Michael; Fish, V. L.; Doeleman, Sheperd; Marrone, D. P.; Plambeck, R. L.; Wardle, J. F. C.; Akiyama, K.; Asada, K.; Beaudoin, C.; Blackburn, Lindy; Blundell, Raymond; Bower, G. C.; Brinkerink, C.; Broderick, A. E.; Cappallo, R.; Chael, Andrew; Crew, G. B.; Dexter, J.; Dexter, M.; Freund, R.; Friberg, P.; Gold, R.; Gurwell, M. A.; Ho, P. T. P.; Honma, M.; Inoue, M.; Kosowsky, Michael; Krichbaum, T. P.; Lamb, J.; Loeb, Abraham; Lu, R.-S.; MacMahon, D.; McKinney, J. C.; Moran, James; Narayan, Ramesh; Primiani, Rurik; Psaltis, D.; Rogers, A. E. E.; Rosenfeld, Katherine; SooHoo, J.; Tilanus, R. P. J.; Titus, M.; Vertatschitsch, L.; Weintroub, Jonathan; Wright, M.; Young, Ken; Zensus, J. A.; Ziurys, L. M.Near a black hole, differential rotation of a magnetized accretion disk is thought to produce an instability that amplifies weak magnetic fields, driving accretion and outflow. These magnetic fields would naturally give rise to the observed synchrotron emission in galaxy cores and to the formation of relativistic jets, but no observations to date have been able to resolve the expected horizonscale magnetic-field structure. We report interferometric observations at 1.3- millimeter wavelength that spatially resolve the linearly polarized emission from the Galactic Center supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*. We have found evidence for partially ordered fields near the event horizon, on scales of ∼6 Schwarzschild radii, and we have detected and localized the intra-hour variability associated with these fields.