CANCELLED

Physical Society Colloquium

Black Hole Physics with the Event Horizon Telescope

Feryal Özel

Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory
University of Arizona

The observations of the black hole in M87 with the Event Horizon Telescope provided the first image of a black hole at horizon scales and the first image-based strong-field tests of General Relativity. Using a combination of numerical simulations, theoretical modeling, and imaging, I will discuss how the EHT data robustly showed the presence of a flux depression at the center of the image, surrounded by a nearly circular ring. I will discuss the implications of this result for the mass of the black hole and the Kerr nature of its spacetime. Owing to its smaller mass, the emission from the plasma around the Galactic Center black hole Sgr A* is more variable, necessitating the use of different analysis techniques for the interferometric data. I will describe the theoretical models for this black hole and how they help in the quest for the second black hole image.