Projects per year
Abstract
The 2017 Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) observations of the central source in M87 have led to the first measurement of the size of a black-hole shadow. This observation offers a new and clean gravitational test of the black-hole metric in the strong-field regime. We show analytically that spacetimes that deviate from the Kerr metric but satisfy weak-field tests can lead to large deviations in the predicted black-hole shadows that are inconsistent with even the current EHT measurements. We use numerical calculations of regular, parametric, non-Kerr metrics to identify the common characteristic among these different parametrizations that control the predicted shadow size. We show that the shadow-size measurements place significant constraints on deviation parameters that control the second post-Newtonian and higher orders of each metric and are, therefore, inaccessible to weak-field tests. The new constraints are complementary to those imposed by observations of gravitational waves from stellar-mass sources.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 141104 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Physical Review Letters |
Volume | 125 |
Issue number | 14 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Oct 2020 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
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Dive into the research topics of 'Gravitational Test beyond the First Post-Newtonian Order with the Shadow of the M87 Black Hole'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 5 Finished
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Physics of Black Hole-Powered Jets
Savolainen, T. (Principal investigator) & Chamani Velasco, W. (Project Member)
01/09/2017 → 31/08/2019
Project: Academy of Finland: Other research funding
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Physics of Black Hole-Powered Jets
Savolainen, T. (Principal investigator), Chamani Velasco, W. (Project Member) & Kiehlmann, S. (Project Member)
01/01/2016 → 31/08/2017
Project: Academy of Finland: Other research funding
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Physics of Black Hole-Powered Jets
Savolainen, T. (Principal investigator)
01/01/2016 → 31/08/2019
Project: Academy of Finland: Other research funding
Equipment
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Metsähovi Radio Observatory
Tammi, J. (Manager)
School of Electrical EngineeringFacility/equipment: Facility