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Event horizon silhouette: implications to supermassive black holes in the galaxies M87 and Milky Way

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Abstract

We demonstrate that a dark silhouette of the black hole illuminated by a thin accretion disk and seen by a distant observer is, in fact, a silhouette of the event horizon hemisphere. The boundary of this silhouette is a contour of the event horizon equatorial circle if a thin accretion disk is placed in the black hole equatorial plane. A luminous matter plunging into black hole from different directions provides the observational opportunity for recovering a total silhouette of the invisible event horizon globe. The event horizon silhouette is projected on the celestial sphere within a position of the black hole shadow. A relative position of the bright part of the accretion disk with respect to the position of event horizon silhouette in the presented first image the black hole in the galaxy M87 corresponds to a rather high value of the black hole spin, \(a\simeq 0.75\).

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to E. O. Babichev, V. A. Berezin, Yu. N. Eroshenko and A. L. Smirnov for stimulating discussions. This work was supported in part by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research grant 18-52-15001a.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 60th October Anniversary Prospect 7a, Moscow, Russia, 117312

    Vyacheslav I. Dokuchaev

  2. Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA), Via Bonomea 265, 34136, Trieste, TS, Italy

    Natalia O. Nazarova

  3. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, 9 Institutskiy per., Dolgoprudny, Moscow Region, Russia, 141700

    Vadim P. Smirnov

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  1. Vyacheslav I. Dokuchaev
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  2. Natalia O. Nazarova
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Correspondence to Vyacheslav I. Dokuchaev.

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Dokuchaev, V.I., Nazarova, N.O. & Smirnov, V.P. Event horizon silhouette: implications to supermassive black holes in the galaxies M87 and Milky Way. Gen Relativ Gravit 51, 81 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10714-019-2564-8

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