Jet-Launching Structure Resolved Near the Supermassive Black Hole in M87

Sheperd S. Doeleman; Vincent L. Fish; David E. Schenck; Christopher Beaudoin; Ray Blundell; Geoffrey C. Bower; Avery E. Broderick; Richard Chamberlin; Robert Freund; Per Friberg; Mark A. Gurwell; Paul T. P. Ho; Mareki Honma; Makoto Inoue; Thomas P. Krichbaum; James Lamb; Abraham Loeb; Colin Lonsdale; Daniel P. Marrone; James M. Moran; Tomoaki Oyama; Richard Plambeck; Rurik A. Primiani; Alan E. E. Rogers; Daniel L. Smythe; Jason SooHoo; Peter Strittmatter; Remo P. J. Tilanus; Michael Titus; Jonathan Weintroub; Melvyn Wright; Ken H. Young; Lucy M. Ziurys

doi:10.1126/science.1224768

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Jet-Launching Structure Resolved Near the Supermassive Black Hole in M87

Sheperd S. Doeleman¹,²,*,
Vincent L. Fish¹,
David E. Schenck¹,³,†,
Christopher Beaudoin¹,
Ray Blundell²,
Geoffrey C. Bower⁴,
Avery E. Broderick⁵,⁶,
Richard Chamberlin⁷,
Robert Freund³,
Per Friberg⁸,
Mark A. Gurwell²,
Paul T. P. Ho⁹,
Mareki Honma¹⁰,¹¹,
Makoto Inoue⁹,
Thomas P. Krichbaum¹²,
James Lamb¹³,
Abraham Loeb²,
Colin Lonsdale¹,
Daniel P. Marrone³,
James M. Moran²,
Tomoaki Oyama¹⁰,
Richard Plambeck⁴,
Rurik A. Primiani²,
Alan E. E. Rogers¹,
Daniel L. Smythe¹,
Jason SooHoo¹,
Peter Strittmatter³,
Remo P. J. Tilanus⁸,¹⁴,
Michael Titus¹,
Jonathan Weintroub²,
Melvyn Wright⁴,
Ken H. Young²,
Lucy M. Ziurys³

¹MIT Haystack Observatory, Off Route 40, Westford, MA 01886, USA.
²Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
³Steward Observatory, Arizona Radio Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721–0065, USA.
⁴Department of Astronomy, University of California Berkeley, Hearst Field Annex, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
⁵Perimeter Institute, 31 Caroline Street, North Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2Y5, Canada.
⁶Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2l 3G1, Canada.
⁷Caltech Submillimeter Observatory, 111 Nowelo Street, Hilo, HI 96720, USA.
⁸James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, Joint Astronomy Centre, 660 North A'ohoku Place University Park, Hilo, HI 96720, USA.
⁹Academia Sinica Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, 11F Astronomy-Mathematics Building, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Roosevelt Road, Section 4 Taipei 10617, Taiwan, R.O.C.
¹⁰National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan.
¹¹The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan.
¹²Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany.
¹³Owens Valley Radio Observatory, California Institute of Technology, 100 Leighton Lane, Big Pine, CA 93513–0968, USA.
¹⁴Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, Laan van Nieuw Oost-Indie 300, NL2509 AC The Hague, Netherlands.

↵*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: sdoeleman{at}haystack.mit.edu

↵† Present address: Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder, 391 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.

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Science 19 Oct 2012:
Vol. 338, Issue 6105, pp. 355-358
DOI: 10.1126/science.1224768

Sheperd S. Doeleman

MIT Haystack Observatory, Off Route 40, Westford, MA 01886, USA.Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

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Vincent L. Fish

MIT Haystack Observatory, Off Route 40, Westford, MA 01886, USA.

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David E. Schenck

MIT Haystack Observatory, Off Route 40, Westford, MA 01886, USA.Steward Observatory, Arizona Radio Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721–0065, USA.

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Christopher Beaudoin

MIT Haystack Observatory, Off Route 40, Westford, MA 01886, USA.

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Ray Blundell

Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

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Geoffrey C. Bower

Department of Astronomy, University of California Berkeley, Hearst Field Annex, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.

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Avery E. Broderick

Perimeter Institute, 31 Caroline Street, North Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2Y5, Canada.Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2l 3G1, Canada.

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Richard Chamberlin

Caltech Submillimeter Observatory, 111 Nowelo Street, Hilo, HI 96720, USA.

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Robert Freund

Steward Observatory, Arizona Radio Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721–0065, USA.

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Per Friberg

James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, Joint Astronomy Centre, 660 North A'ohoku Place University Park, Hilo, HI 96720, USA.

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Mark A. Gurwell

Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

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Paul T. P. Ho

Academia Sinica Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, 11F Astronomy-Mathematics Building, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Roosevelt Road, Section 4 Taipei 10617, Taiwan, R.O.C.

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Mareki Honma

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan.The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan.

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Makoto Inoue

Academia Sinica Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, 11F Astronomy-Mathematics Building, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Roosevelt Road, Section 4 Taipei 10617, Taiwan, R.O.C.

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Thomas P. Krichbaum

Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany.

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James Lamb

Owens Valley Radio Observatory, California Institute of Technology, 100 Leighton Lane, Big Pine, CA 93513–0968, USA.

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Abraham Loeb

Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

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Colin Lonsdale

MIT Haystack Observatory, Off Route 40, Westford, MA 01886, USA.

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Daniel P. Marrone

Steward Observatory, Arizona Radio Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721–0065, USA.

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James M. Moran

Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

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Tomoaki Oyama

National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan.

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Richard Plambeck

Department of Astronomy, University of California Berkeley, Hearst Field Annex, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.

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Rurik A. Primiani

Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

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Alan E. E. Rogers

MIT Haystack Observatory, Off Route 40, Westford, MA 01886, USA.

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Daniel L. Smythe

MIT Haystack Observatory, Off Route 40, Westford, MA 01886, USA.

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Jason SooHoo

MIT Haystack Observatory, Off Route 40, Westford, MA 01886, USA.

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Peter Strittmatter

Steward Observatory, Arizona Radio Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721–0065, USA.

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Remo P. J. Tilanus

James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, Joint Astronomy Centre, 660 North A'ohoku Place University Park, Hilo, HI 96720, USA.Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, Laan van Nieuw Oost-Indie 300, NL2509 AC The Hague, Netherlands.

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Michael Titus

MIT Haystack Observatory, Off Route 40, Westford, MA 01886, USA.

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Jonathan Weintroub

Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

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Melvyn Wright

Department of Astronomy, University of California Berkeley, Hearst Field Annex, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.

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Ken H. Young

Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

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Lucy M. Ziurys

Steward Observatory, Arizona Radio Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721–0065, USA.

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Abstract

Approximately 10% of active galactic nuclei exhibit relativistic jets, which are powered by the accretion of matter onto supermassive black holes. Although the measured width profiles of such jets on large scales agree with theories of magnetic collimation, the predicted structure on accretion disk scales at the jet launch point has not been detected. We report radio interferometry observations, at a wavelength of 1.3 millimeters, of the elliptical galaxy M87 that spatially resolve the base of the jet in this source. The derived size of 5.5 ± 0.4 Schwarzschild radii is significantly smaller than the innermost edge of a retrograde accretion disk, suggesting that the M87 jet is powered by an accretion disk in a prograde orbit around a spinning black hole.

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Jet-Launching Structure Resolved Near the Supermassive Black Hole in M87

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