Detection of the intrinsic size of Sagittarius A* through closure amplitude imaging

被引:167
作者
Bower, GC
Falcke, H
Herrnstein, RM
Zhao, JH
Goss, WM
Backer, DC
机构
[1] Univ Calif Berkeley, Dept Astron, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
[2] Univ Calif Berkeley, Radio Astron Lab, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
[3] ASTRON, Radio Observ Westerbork, NL-7990 AA Dwingeloo, Netherlands
[4] Univ Nijmegen, Dept Astron, NL-6500 GL Nijmegen, Netherlands
[5] Max Planck Inst Radioastron, D-53121 Bonn, Germany
[6] Columbia Univ, Dept Astron, New York, NY 10027 USA
[7] Harvard Smithsonian Ctr Astrophys, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
[8] Natl Radio Astron Observ, Array Operat Ctr, Socorro, NM 87801 USA
关键词
D O I
10.1126/science.1094023
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
We have detected the intrinsic size of Sagittarius A*, the Galactic center radio source associated with a supermassive black hole, showing that the short-wavelength radio emission arises from very near the event horizon of the black hole. Radio observations with the Very Long Baseline Array show that the source has a size of 24 +/- 2 Schwarzschild radii at 7-millimeter wavelength. In one of eight 7-millimeter epochs, we also detected an increase in the intrinsic size of 60(-17)(+25)%. These observations place a lower limit to the mass density of Sagittarius A* of 1.4 x 10(4) solar masses per cubic astronomical unit.
引用
收藏
页码:704 / 708
页数:5
相关论文
共 37 条
[1]   Proper motion of the compact, nonthermal radio source in the Galactic center Sagittarius A* [J].
Backer, DC ;
Sramek, RA .
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 1999, 524 (02) :805-815
[2]   Rapid X-ray flaring from the direction of the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Centre [J].
Baganoff, FK ;
Bautz, MW ;
Brandt, WN ;
Chartas, G ;
Feigelson, ED ;
Garmire, GP ;
Maeda, Y ;
Morris, M ;
Ricker, GR ;
Townsley, LK ;
Walter, F .
NATURE, 2001, 413 (6851) :45-48
[3]  
Beckert T, 1997, ASTRON ASTROPHYS, V328, P95
[4]   RELATIVISTIC JETS AS COMPACT RADIO-SOURCES [J].
BLANDFORD, RD ;
KONIGL, A .
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 1979, 232 (01) :34-48
[5]   Interferometric detection of linear polarization from Sagittarius A* at 230 GHz [J].
Bower, GC ;
Wright, MCH ;
Falcke, H ;
Backer, DC .
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 2003, 588 (01) :331-337
[6]   The spectrum and variability of circular polarization in Sagittarius A* from 1.4 to 15 GHz [J].
Bower, GC ;
Falcke, H ;
Sault, RJ ;
Backer, DC .
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 2002, 571 (02) :843-855
[7]   VLBA observations of astrometric reference sources in the Galactic center [J].
Bower, GC ;
Backer, DC ;
Sramek, RA .
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 2001, 558 (01) :127-132
[8]   Covariant magnetoionic theory - I. Ray propagation [J].
Broderick, A ;
Blandford, R .
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, 2003, 342 (04) :1280-1290
[9]   Anisotropic interstellar scattering toward the Cygnus region [J].
Desai, KM ;
Fey, AL .
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL SUPPLEMENT SERIES, 2001, 133 (02) :395-411
[10]   Structure of Sagittarius A* at 86 GHz using VLBI closure quantities [J].
Doeleman, SS ;
Shen, ZQ ;
Rogers, AEE ;
Bower, GC ;
Wright, MCH ;
Zhao, JH ;
Backer, DC ;
Crowley, JW ;
Freund, RW ;
Ho, PTP ;
Lo, KY ;
Woody, DP .
ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL, 2001, 121 (05) :2610-2617