Velocity Profile of the Ionized Disk and the Mass of the Black Hole in M87

Abstract

We present a theoretical model for the ionized disk in M87 which includes spiral shock waves. The line emission profiles computed from this model at various positions on the disk are found to be in agreement with the recent Hubble Space Telescope results. Based on this model, we find that the ionized disk comprises two-armed giant spiral shock waves which extend from around $0.1$ arc sec from the center to at least $1$ arc second or more. Our model requires that the mass of the black hole be $(4\pm 0.2)\times 10^9{M}_{\odot }$ and the inclination angle to be $(42\pm 2{)}^{°}$. We predict the nature of the line profiles at many other locations of the disk which could be verified in future observations.

17 pages text + 6 pages of figures uucoded, LaTeX (aasms style)

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Accretion Processes On a Black Hole
• Gravitational Wave Emission From a Binary Black Hole System in Presence of an Accretion Disk
• Spectrum of two component flows around a super-massive black hole: an application to M87
• The Ionization Source in the Nucleus of M84
• Centrally Concentrated X-ray Radiation from an Extended Accreting Corona in Active Galactic Nuclei
• Satellite observations of thought experiments close to a black hole