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

TL;DR

This study uses 1.3 mm wavelength observations to measure the size of Sagittarius A*'s emission region, providing insights into the structure near the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Centre.

Contribution

First direct measurement of the intrinsic size of Sgr A* at 1.3 mm, approaching the event horizon scale, revealing emission likely from the accretion flow rather than the black hole itself.

Findings

Measured intrinsic diameter of Sgr A* as 37 microarcseconds.

Emission region size is smaller than the event horizon, indicating complex accretion flow.

Suggests emission may not be centered on the black hole.

Abstract

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 (ref 1). Sagittarius 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 million times that of the Sun (refs. 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 (refs. 4-7). Here we report observations at a wavelength of 1.3 mm that set a size of 37 (+16, -10; 3-sigma) 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 SgrA* emission may not be not centred on the black hole, but arises in the surrounding accretion flow.