First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. VI. The Shadow and Mass of the Central Black Hole

Abstract

We present measurements of the properties of the central radio source in M87 using Event Horizon Telescope data obtained during the 2017 campaign. We develop and fit geometric crescent models (asymmetric rings with interior brightness depressions) using two independent sampling algorithms that consider distinct representations of the visibility data. We show that the crescent family of models is statistically preferred over other comparably complex geometric models that we explore. We calibrate the geometric model parameters using general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) models of the emission region and estimate physical properties of the source. We further fit images generated from GRMHD models directly to the data. We compare the derived emission region and black hole parameters from these analyses with those recovered from reconstructed images. There is a remarkable consistency among all methods and data sets. We find that >50% of the total flux at arcsecond scales comes from near the horizon, and that the emission is dramatically suppressed interior to this region by a factor >10, providing direct evidence of the predicted shadow of a black hole. Across all methods, we measure a crescent diameter of 42+/-3 micro-as and constrain its fractional width to be <0.5. Associating the crescent feature with the emission surrounding the black hole shadow, we infer an angular gravitational radius of GM/Dc2 = 3.8+/- 0.4 micro-as. Folding in a distance measurement of 16.8(+0.8,-0.7) Mpc gives a black hole mass of M = 6.5 +/- 0.2(stat) +/-0.7(sys) 10^9 Msun. This measurement from lensed emission near the event horizon is consistent with the presence of a central Kerr black hole, as predicted by the general theory of relativity.

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Cited by in corpus (28)

• First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. I. The Shadow of the Supermassive Black Hole
• First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. IV. Imaging the Central Supermassive Black Hole
• First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. II. Array and Instrumentation
• First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. III. Data Processing and Calibration
• Black Hole Shadows, Photon Rings, and Lensing Rings
• Magnetically charged black holes from non-linear electrodynamics and the Event Horizon Telescope
• Spontaneously scalarised Kerr black holes
• The Shadow of a Spherically Accreting Black Hole
• Lensing by Kerr Black Holes
• Black hole shadow in a general rotating spacetime obtained through Newman-Janis algorithm
• Shadow cast and deflection of light by charged rotating regular black holes
• Black hole mimicker hiding in the shadow: Optical properties of the $\gamma$-metric
• Asymptotic safety casts its shadow
• Higher order corrections to deflection angle of massive particles and light rays in plasma media for stationary spacetimes using the Gauss-Bonnet theorem
• Black Hole Hair from Scalar Dark Matter
• Kinematics of the M87 jet in the collimation zone: gradual acceleration and velocity stratification
• Sparse Modeling in Quantum Many-Body Problems
• Observational signature of a near-extremal Kerr-Sen black hole in the heterotic string theory
• Black Hole Spin Signature in the Black Hole Shadow of M87 in the Flaring State
• Black hole Spin Measurement Based on Time-domain VLBI Observations of Infalling Gas Cloud
• Constraining a black hole companion for M87* through imaging by the Event Horizon Telescope
• Non-linear evolutions of magnetised thick discs around black holes: dependence on the initial data
• Photon Emission Near Myers-Perry Black Holes in the Large Dimension Limit
• Spectral index-mass accretion rate correlation and evaluation of black hole masses in AGNs 3C~454.3 and M87
• Search of QCD phase transition points in the canonical approach of the NJL model
• What Would Happen If We Were About 1 pc Away from a Supermassive Black Hole?
• Efficient gravitational lens optical scalars calculation of black holes with angular momentum
• rPICARD: A CASA-based Calibration Pipeline for VLBI Data. Calibration and imaging of 7 mm VLBA observations of the AGN jet in M87