Unique probe of dark matter in the core of M87 with the Event Horizon Telescope

Abstract

We demonstrate the unprecedented capabilities of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) to image the innermost dark matter profile in the vicinity of the supermassive black hole at the center of the M87 radio galaxy. We present the first model of the synchrotron emission induced by dark matter annihilations from a spiky profile in the close vicinity of a supermassive black hole, accounting for strong gravitational lensing effects. Our results show that the EHT should readily resolve dark matter spikes if present. Moreover, the photon ring surrounding the silhouette of the black hole is clearly visible in the spike emission, which introduces observable small-scale structure into the signal. We find that the dark matter-induced emission provides an adequate fit to the existing EHT data, implying that in addition to the jet, a dark matter spike may account for a sizable portion of the millimeter emission from the innermost (subparsec) region of M87. Regardless, our results show that the EHT can probe very weakly annihilating dark matter. Current EHT observations already constrain very small cross sections, typically down to a few 10^{-31} cm^{3} s^{-1} for a 10 GeV candidate, close to characteristic values for p-wave-suppressed annihilation. Future EHT observations will further improve constraints on the DM scenario.

10 pages, 3 figures; matches version published in PRD

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Cited by in corpus (33)

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• Modelling the Sgr A* Black Hole Immersed in a Dark Matter Spike
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• Extreme Dark Matter Tests with Extreme Mass Ratio Inspirals
• Indirect Evidence for Dark Matter Density Spikes around Stellar-Mass Black Holes
• Exploring dark matter spike distribution around the Galactic centre with stellar orbits
• New constraints on the dark matter-neutrino and dark matter-photon scattering cross sections from TXS 0506+056
• Silhouettes of invisible black holes
• NGC 1068 constraints on neutrino-dark matter scattering
• Polarimetric signatures of the photon ring of a black hole that is pierced by a cosmic axion string
• Spacetime metrics and ringdown waveforms for galactic black holes surrounded by a dark matter spike
• Probing Light Dark Matter through Cosmic-Ray Cooling in Active Galactic Nuclei
• Self-interacting Dark Scalar Spikes around Black Holes via Relativistic Bondi Accretion
• Radio constraints on dark matter annihilation in Canes Venatici I with LOFAR
• Density spikes near black holes in self-interacting dark matter halos and indirect detection constraints
• Gravitational Lensing of a star by a rotating black hole
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• Asymmetric Dark Matter Imprint on Low-mass Main-sequence Stars in the Milky Way Nuclear Star Cluster
• Dark matter effect on black hole accretion disks
• Modeling the motion of a bright spot in jets from black holes M87* and SgrA*
• Influence of dark matter equation of state on the axial gravitational ringing of supermassive black holes
• Tidal Disruption Events and Dark Matter Scatterings with Neutrinos and Photons
• Signatures of leptophilic t-channel dark matter from active galactic nuclei
• Illuminating Black Hole Shadow with Dark Matter Annihilation
• Modified Kerr black holes surrounded by dark matter spike
• Fate of an Accretion Disc around a Black Hole when both the Viscosity and Dark Energy is Effecting
• Relaxing Constraints on Dark Matter Annihilation Near the Supermassive Black Hole in M87
• Gravitational Waves from Primordial Black Hole Dark Matter Spikes
• Silhouettes of wormholes traversed for radiation
• Constraining dark photon parameters based on the very high energy observations of blazars
• Accretion of self-interacting dark matter onto supermassive black holes
• Neutrino production in the central dark-matter spikes of active galaxies