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Science Briefing05/02/2019

Gazing into the Abyss: The Black Hole in M87Dr. Dom Pesce (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian )

Dr. Joey Neilsen (Villanova University)

Facilitator: Dr. Brandon Lawton (STScI)

1. Dr. Dom Pesce (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian)

The first image of a black hole.

2. Dr. Joey Neilsen (Villanova University)Understanding M87’s jet and the environment of the black hole through X-ray imaging.

3. Q&A

4. Brandon Lawton (STScI)Resources for learning

5. Q & A

Outline of this Science Briefing

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M87

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M87

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Virgo

M87

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Virgo

Rogelio Bernal Andreo

M87

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Virgo

Rogelio Bernal Andreo

NASA/ESA/HST; P. Cote, E. Baltz

M87

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Rogelio Bernal Andreo

NASA/ESA/HST; P. Cote, E. Baltz

HST

M87

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Rogelio Bernal Andreo

NASA/ESA/HST; P. Cote, E. Baltz

HST

The shadow of a black hole

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NSF

The shadow of a black hole

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A telescope the size of the Earth

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= active sites= sites in commission= legacy sites

Very Long Baseline Interferometry

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“Virtual mirror”

Very Long Baseline Interferometry

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“Virtual mirror”

Very Long Baseline Interferometry

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“Virtual mirror”

Very Long Baseline Interferometry

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“Virtual mirror”

Very Long Baseline Interferometry

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“Virtual mirror”

Very Long Baseline Interferometry

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“Virtual mirror”

Very Long Baseline Interferometry

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“Virtual mirror”

Very Long Baseline Interferometry

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Credit: Lindy Blackburn

Imaging algorithms

Creating an image: four teams

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Harvard-Smithsonian University of ArizonaU. Concepcion

MIT HaystackRadboud UniversityNAOJ

MPIfRBoston University

IAAAalto

ASIAAKASINAOJ

The A

mericas

Glo

bal

Cro

ss-A

tlantic

East A

sia

Credit: Katie Bouman

Creating an image: two algorithms

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Credit: Katie Bouman

RegularizedMaximumLikelihood

CLEAN+

Self-calibration

Creating an image

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Creating an image

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EHT institutions

X-rays and the Shadow of M87

• Joey Neilsen (Villanova University)

• EHT Multi-wavelength Working Group

• “X-rays and the Shadow of M87”

• How can X-ray observations of M87 help us understand jets from black holes?

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Credit, X-ray: NASA/CXC/Villanova University/J. Neilsen, Radio: Event

Horizon Telescope Collaboration

Jets From Black Holes??!?

• ”Wait a minute, I thought nothing can escape a black hole’s gravity”

• Nothing can escape from inside a black hole

• Possible for material near black hole to escape

• Common example: “jets”

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Radio jet from the supermassive black hole in Cygnus A; length 300,000 ly

(Image Credit: NRAO/AUI)

Lobe

How Are Jets Formed?

• Several different ways to produce jets in astrophysics

• All involve a rotating magnetic field

• Nearby stuff (gas, particles) get channeled into a beam, accelerated

• How do they get this energy? How are particles accelerated?

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Artist’s Conception of a black hole w/jet

Image Credit: NASA/Caltech/JPL

Rotating MagneticField

“Accretion Disk”

Black Hole

M87 Has A Famous Jet

• M87 is a very well known source of radio jets (image at right)

• Top left of image: the galaxy M87

• Elliptical galaxy, 53 million light years away

• Twice the mass of the Milky Way Galaxy

• Jet extends thousands of light years from center

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The Jet in M87

Image Credit: NASA and the Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Why Are X-rays Useful For Understanding Jets?

• Empirically: X-ray telescopes are good at seeing jets

• Example: Pictor A galaxy

• Colors: Blue = X-ray, Red = Radio

• Narrow jet shows up clearly in X-rays, along with BH and hotspots

• Why? Seeing energetic particles!

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The Radio/X-ray Jet in Pictor A

Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ of Hertfordshire/M.Hardcastle et al., Radio:

CSIRO/ATNF/ATCA

What About M87?

• M87’s jet is very well studied

• Top: Chandra, X-ray

• Bottom Left: VLAradio

• Bottom right: Hubble, visible

• What does X-ray see? “Knots”

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Credit:X-ray: NASA/ CXC/MIT/H. Marshall et al.Radio: F. Zhou, F.Owen (NRAO), J.Biretta (STScI)Optical: NASA/ STScI/UMBC/E. Perlman et al.

What About M87?

• M87’s jet is very well studied

• Top: Chandra, X-ray

• Bottom Left: VLAradio

• Bottom right: Hubble, visible

• What does X-ray see? “Knots”

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Credit:X-ray: NASA/ CXC/MIT/H. Marshall et al.Radio: F. Zhou, F.Owen (NRAO), J.Biretta (STScI)Optical: NASA/ STScI/UMBC/E. Perlman et al.

Knot A

What About M87?

• M87’s jet is very well studied

• Top: Chandra, X-ray

• Bottom Left: VLAradio

• Bottom right: Hubble, visible

• What does X-ray see? “Knots”

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Credit:X-ray: NASA/ CXC/MIT/H. Marshall et al.Radio: F. Zhou, F.Owen (NRAO), J.Biretta (STScI)Optical: NASA/ STScI/UMBC/E. Perlman et al.

Knot A

Knot D

What About M87?

• M87’s jet is very well studied

• Top: Chandra, X-ray

• Bottom Left: VLAradio

• Bottom right: Hubble, visible

• What does X-ray see? “Knots”

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Credit:X-ray: NASA/ CXC/MIT/H. Marshall et al.Radio: F. Zhou, F.Owen (NRAO), J.Biretta (STScI)Optical: NASA/ STScI/UMBC/E. Perlman et al.

Knot A

Knot D

X-ray Wishlist

• What do we want to learn from studying M87 w/X-ray telescopes and the EHT?

• How are particles accelerated to such high energies around black holes??

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Knot A

Knot D

Left: X-ray jet from M87 (Chandra). Right: M87 shadow (EHT)

A Match Made in Orbit

• Chandra X-ray Observatory

• Precise imaging, spectroscopy: jet structure

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Knot A

Knot D

Credit: NASA/Caltech/JPL

• NuSTAR

• Higher-Energy X-rays = better constraints on particle acceleration

Credit: NASA/CXC & J. Vaughan

NuSTAR & Chandra

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Knot A

Knot D

Credit:X-ray: NASA/ CXC/MIT/H. Marshall et al.Radio: F. Zhou, F.Owen (NRAO), J.Biretta (STScI)Optical: NASA/ STScI/UMBC/E. Perlman et al.

• Work together: use Chandra to constrain the different pieces of the jet, NuSTAR to measure high-energy data

Wong et al. 2017

The X-ray Spectrum

• Lots of pieces in the spectrum (brightness vs energy)

• Green: hot cluster gas from Chandra

• Orange, pink, turquoise: jet structure from Chandra

• Blue, black: NuSTAR spectrum

• NuSTAR: sum of all pieces

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Credit:X-ray: NASA/ CXC/MIT/H. Marshall et al.Radio: F. Zhou, F.Owen (NRAO), J.Biretta (STScI)Optical: NASA/ STScI/UMBC/E. Perlman et al.

X-ray spectrum of M87 (Neilsen et al. in prep)

Summary

• X-rays tell us about some of the most energetic processes around BH

• EHT: very exciting opportunity to study the immediate vicinity of a black hole

• X-rays: study particle accel. at the same time, connect the two??!

• New window onto black holes

• Milky Way Galaxy BH: Sgr A* next?

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Knot A

Knot D

Left: X-ray jet from M87 (Chandra). Right: M87 shadow (EHT)

Backup: Black Hole Spin

• EHT uses detailed simulations of matter falling onto black holes to understand image

• One neat result: the black hole is spinning

• We are looking at its “south pole” (EHT 2019e)

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EHT constraints on the spin of the black hole and jet direction

• Chandra X-ray Observatory: Black hole primer

Additional Resources

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http://chandra.si.edu/blackhole/

Includes: - Illustrations:

http://chandra.si.edu/resources/illustrations/blackholes.html- Animations:

http://chandra.si.edu/resources/animations/blackholes.html- Chandra PodCasts on black holes

• Chandra X-ray Observatory: Black hole Infographic

Additional Resources

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http://chandra.cfa.harvard.edu/graphics/resources/illustrations/bh_infograph.pdf

Answers common questions about black holes with engaging visuals.

• Fermi Telescope Black Hole Resource Area

Additional Resources

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http://fermi.sonoma.edu/teachers/blackholes/index.php

Includes: - PBS Nova special- Denver Museum of Nature and Science

Planetarium Show: "Black Holes: The Other Side Of Infinity"- Black Holes Educator Workshop: From Here

to Infinity- Black hole activities for the classroom- Cool black hole games for all ages

• Fermi Telescope Active Galaxy Education Unit

Additional Resources

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http://fermi.sonoma.edu/teachers/agn.php

• Dr. Katie Bouman speaking at Caltech

Additional Resources

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=UGL_OL3OrCE

• How to understand the image of a black hole

Additional Resources

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=zUyH3XhpLTo

• Falling into different kinds of black holes

Additional Resources

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https://jila.colorado.edu/~ajsh/insidebh/schw.html

Videos from the perspective of someone falling into a black hole

Explores effects of different black hole properties on view of the universe and the passage of time

Explains different regions around the black hole

• MicroObservatory

Additional Resources

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https://mo-www.cfa.harvard.edu/OWN/index.html

Make your own images of M87 (when it’s above the horizon!)

• MicroObservatory Astrophoto Challenge

Additional Resources

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https://mo-www.cfa.harvard.edu/OWN/astrophoto/index.html

June 1:- M51 (Whirlpool Galaxy)

Make your own image from NASA data

Make your own image from MicroObservatory data

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This product is based upon work supported by NASA under award number NNX16AC65A to the Space Telescope Science Institute, working in partnership with Caltech/IPAC, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory,

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Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

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