Event-horizon-scale structure in the supermassive black hole candidate at the Galactic Centre

被引：595

作者：

Doeleman, Sheperd S. ^{[1
]}

Weintroub, Jonathan ^{[2
]}

Rogers, Alan E. E. ^{[1
]}

Plambeck, Richard ^{[3
]}

Freund, Robert ^{[4
]}

Tilanus, Remo P. J. ^{[5
,6
]}

Friberg, Per ^{[5
]}

Ziurys, Lucy M. ^{[4
]}

Moran, James M. ^{[2
]}

Corey, Brian ^{[1
]}

Young, Ken H. ^{[2
]}

Smythe, Daniel L. ^{[1
]}

Titus, Michael ^{[1
]}

Marrone, Daniel P. ^{[7
,8
]}

Cappallo, Roger J. ^{[1
]}

Bock, Douglas C. -J. ^{[9
]}

Bower, Geoffrey C. ^{[3
]}

Chamberlin, Richard ^{[10
]}

Davis, Gary R. ^{[5
]}

Krichbaum, Thomas P. ^{[11
]}

Lamb, James ^{[12
]}

Maness, Holly ^{[3
]}

Niell, Arthur E. ^{[1
]}

Roy, Alan ^{[11
]}

Strittmatter, Peter ^{[4
]}

Werthimer, Daniel ^{[13
]}

Whitney, Alan R. ^{[1
]}

Woody, David ^{[12
]}

机构：

[1] MIT, Haystack Observ, Westford, MA 01886 USA

[2] Harvard Smithsonian Ctr Astrophys, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA

[3] Univ Calif Berkeley, Dept Astron, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA

[4] Univ Arizona, Steward Observ, Arizona Radio Observ, Tucson, AZ 85721 USA

[5] Joint Astron Ctr, Hilo, HI 96720 USA

[6] Netherlands Org Sci Res, NL-2509 AC The Hague, Netherlands

[7] Natl Radio Astron Observ, Charlottesville, VA 22903 USA

[8] Univ Chicago, Kavli Inst Cosmol Phys, Chicago, IL 60637 USA

[9] CARMA, Big Pine, CA 93513 USA

[10] Caltech Submillimeter Observ, Hilo, HI 96720 USA

[11] Max Planck Inst Radioastron, D-53121 Bonn, Germany

[12] CALTECH, OVRO, Big Pine, CA 93513 USA

[13] Univ Calif Berkeley, Space Sci Lab, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA

来源：

NATURE | 2008年 / 455卷 / 7209期

基金：

美国国家科学基金会;

关键词：

D O I：

10.1038/nature07245

中图分类号：

O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];

学科分类号：

07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;

摘要：

The cores of most galaxies are thought to harbour supermassive black holes, which power galactic nuclei by converting the gravitational energy of accreting matter into radiation(1). Sagittarius A* ( Sgr A*), the compact source of radio, infrared and X- ray emission at the centre of the Milky Way, is the closest example of this phenomenon, with an estimated black hole mass that is 4,000,000 times that of the Sun(2,3). A long- standing astronomical goal is to resolve structures in the innermost accretion flow surrounding Sgr A*, where strong gravitational fields will distort the appearance of radiation emitted near the black hole. Radio observations at wavelengths of 3.5 mm and 7 mm have detected intrinsic structure in Sgr A*, but the spatial resolution of observations at these wavelengths is limited by interstellar scattering(4-7). Here we report observations at a wavelength of 1.3 mm that set a size of 37(-10)(+16) microarcseconds on the intrinsic diameter of Sgr A*. This is less than the expected apparent size of the event horizon of the presumed black hole, suggesting that the bulk of Sgr A* emission may not be centred on the black hole, but arises in the surrounding accretion flow.

引用

页码：78 / 80

页数：3

共 23 条

[1]

[Anonymous], 1998, BLACK HOLE PHYS BASI

[2] Proper motion of the compact, nonthermal radio source in the Galactic center Sagittarius A* [J].