Publication: Jet-Launching Structure Resolved Near the Supermassive Black Hole in M87
Date
2012
Published Version
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American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
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Citation
Doeleman, S. S., V. L. Fish, D. E. Schenck, C. Beaudoin, R. Blundell, G. C. Bower, A. E. Broderick, et al. 2012. “Jet-Launching Structure Resolved Near the Supermassive Black Hole in M87.” Science 338 (6105) (September 27): 355–358. doi:10.1126/science.1224768.
Research Data
Abstract
Approximately 10% of active galactic nuclei exhibit relativistic jets, which are powered by accretion of matter onto super massive black holes. While the measured width profiles of such jets on large scales agree with theories of magnetic collimation, predicted structure on accretion disk scales at the jet launch point has not been detected. We report radio interferometry observations at 1.3mm wavelength of the elliptical galaxy M87 that spatially resolve the base of the jet in this source. The derived size of 5.5 +/- 0.4 Schwarzschild radii is significantly smaller than the innermost edge of a retrograde accretion disk, suggesting that the M87 jet is powered by an accretion disk in a prograde orbit around a spinning black hole.
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Keywords
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE); Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
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