Discriminating Accretion States via Rotational Symmetry in Simulated Polarimetric Images of M87
Abstract
In 2017 April, the Event Horizon Telescope observed the shadow of the supermassive black hole at the core of the elliptical galaxy Messier 87. While the original image was constructed from measurements of the total intensity, full polarimetric data were also collected, and linear polarimetric images are expected in the near future. We propose a modal image decomposition of the linear polarization field into basis functions with varying azimuthal dependence of the electric vector position angle. We apply this decomposition to images of ray traced general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics simulations of the Messier 87 accretion disk. Furthermore, for simulated images that are physically consistent with previous observations, the magnitude of the coefficient associated with rotational symmetry, β2, is a useful discriminator between accretion states. We find that at 20 μas resolution, $$| {\beta }_{2}| $$ is greater than 0.2 only for models of disks with horizon-scale magnetic pressures large enough to disrupt steady accretion. We also find that images with a more radially directed electric vector position angle correspond to models with higher black hole spin. Our analysis demonstrates the utility of the proposed decomposition as a diagnostic framework to improve constraints on theoretical models.
- Authors:
-
[1];
[2];
[3]
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA (United States); Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States). Black Hole Initiative
- Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States); Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); National Science Foundation (NSF); Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1822737
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-19-31256
Journal ID: ISSN 1538-4357; TRN: US2214497
- Grant/Contract Number:
- 89233218CNA000001; AST-1716536; GBMF5278; AST-1716327; PIRE 17-43747
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal (Online); Journal Volume: 894; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 1538-4357
- Publisher:
- IOP Publishing
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Accretion; Black holes; Magnetic fields; Radiative transfer; Very long baseline interferometry
Citation Formats
Palumbo, Daniel M., Wong, George N., and Prather, Ben S. Discriminating Accretion States via Rotational Symmetry in Simulated Polarimetric Images of M87. United States: N. p., 2020.
Web. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab86ac.
Palumbo, Daniel M., Wong, George N., & Prather, Ben S. Discriminating Accretion States via Rotational Symmetry in Simulated Polarimetric Images of M87. United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab86ac
Palumbo, Daniel M., Wong, George N., and Prather, Ben S. Mon .
"Discriminating Accretion States via Rotational Symmetry in Simulated Polarimetric Images of M87". United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab86ac. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1822737.
@article{osti_1822737,
title = {Discriminating Accretion States via Rotational Symmetry in Simulated Polarimetric Images of M87},
author = {Palumbo, Daniel M. and Wong, George N. and Prather, Ben S.},
abstractNote = {In 2017 April, the Event Horizon Telescope observed the shadow of the supermassive black hole at the core of the elliptical galaxy Messier 87. While the original image was constructed from measurements of the total intensity, full polarimetric data were also collected, and linear polarimetric images are expected in the near future. We propose a modal image decomposition of the linear polarization field into basis functions with varying azimuthal dependence of the electric vector position angle. We apply this decomposition to images of ray traced general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics simulations of the Messier 87 accretion disk. Furthermore, for simulated images that are physically consistent with previous observations, the magnitude of the coefficient associated with rotational symmetry, β2, is a useful discriminator between accretion states. We find that at 20 μas resolution, $| {\beta }_{2}| $ is greater than 0.2 only for models of disks with horizon-scale magnetic pressures large enough to disrupt steady accretion. We also find that images with a more radially directed electric vector position angle correspond to models with higher black hole spin. Our analysis demonstrates the utility of the proposed decomposition as a diagnostic framework to improve constraints on theoretical models.},
doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ab86ac},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal (Online)},
number = 2,
volume = 894,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon May 18 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Mon May 18 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}
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