science briefing - universe of...

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


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

M87

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HST

M87

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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”


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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?






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Knot A

What About M87?






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Knot A

Knot D

What About M87?






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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


• 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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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

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

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

http://chandra.si.edu/resources/animations/blackholes.html

• Chandra X-ray Observatory: Black hole Infographic


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

Answers common questions about black holes with engaging visuals.

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

• Fermi Telescope Black Hole Resource Area


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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

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

• Fermi Telescope Active Galaxy Education Unit


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

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

• Dr. Katie Bouman speaking at Caltech


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

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

• How to understand the image of a black hole


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

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

• Falling into different kinds of black holes


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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

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

• MicroObservatory


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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!)

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

• MicroObservatory Astrophoto Challenge


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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

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

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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,

and Sonoma State University.

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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