Viewing the Shadow of the Black Hole at the Galactic Center

Heino Falcke(1), Fulvio Melia(2,4), and Eric Agol(3)


(1) Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, D-53121, Bonn, Germany
(2) Physics Department and Steward Observatory, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721
(3) Physics and Astronomy Department, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218.
(4) Presidential Young Investigator and Sir Thomas Lyle Fellow

Paper: ApJ 528, L13 (Jan 1, 2000)

Weblink: http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/staff/hfalcke/publications.html#bhimage

EPrint Server: astro-ph/9912263


Abstract:

In recent years, the evidence for the existence of an ultra-compact concentration of dark mass associated with the radio source Sgr A* in the Galactic Center has become very strong. However, an unambiguous proof that this object is indeed a black hole is still lacking. A defining characteristic of a black hole is the event horizon. To a distant observer, the event horizon casts a relatively large ``shadow'' with an apparent diameter of 10 gravitational radii due to bending of light by the black hole, nearly independent of the black hole spin or orientation. The predicted size ( 30 mu arcseconds) of this shadow for Sgr A* approaches the resolution of current radio-interferometers. If the black hole is maximally spinning and viewed edge-on, then the shadow will be offset by 8 mu arcseconds from the center of mass, and will be slightly flattened on one side. Taking into account scatter-broadening of the image in the interstellar medium and the finite achievable telescope resolution, we show that the shadow of Sgr A* may be observable with very long-baseline interferometry at sub-millimeter wavelengths, assuming that the accretion flow is optically thin in this region of the spectrum. Hence, there exists a realistic expectation of imaging the event horizon of a black hole within the next few years.


Preprints available from the authors at hfalcke@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de , or the raw TeX (no figures) if you click here.

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