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

2012; American Association for the Advancement of Science; Volume: 338; Issue: 6105 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1126/science.1224768

1095-9203

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

Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research

Approximately 10% of active galactic nuclei exhibit relativistic jets, which are powered by accretion of matter onto super massive black holes. While the measured width profiles of such jets on large scales agree with theories of magnetic collimation, predicted structure on accretion disk scales at the jet launch point has not been detected. We report radio interferometry observations at 1.3mm wavelength 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.