Jet Launching Structure Resolved Near the Supermassive Black Hole in M87

TL;DR

This paper presents high-resolution radio interferometry observations of M87 that resolve the jet base at a scale of about 5.5 Schwarzschild radii, providing insights into jet launching mechanisms near supermassive black holes.

Contribution

It provides the first direct measurement of the jet launch region in M87 at unprecedented resolution, revealing a size smaller than the inner edge of the accretion disk and suggesting a prograde accretion disk around a spinning black hole.

Findings

Jet base size measured at 5.5 Schwarzschild radii.

Jet likely powered by a prograde accretion disk.

Supports magnetic collimation theories for large-scale jets.

Abstract

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.