Polarization Whorls from High-Spin Black Holes
ORAL
Abstract
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is expected to soon produce polarimetric images
of the supermassive black holes at the centers of our galaxy and the neighboring galaxy M87.
The black hole of M87 is believed to be very rapidly spinning, within 2% of extremality. General
relativity predicts that a high-spin black hole has an emergent conformal symmetry near its
event horizon. We will show this symmetry to analytically predict the polarized near-horizon
emissions of high-spin back holes and find a distinctive pattern of whorls aligned with the spin.
of the supermassive black holes at the centers of our galaxy and the neighboring galaxy M87.
The black hole of M87 is believed to be very rapidly spinning, within 2% of extremality. General
relativity predicts that a high-spin black hole has an emergent conformal symmetry near its
event horizon. We will show this symmetry to analytically predict the polarized near-horizon
emissions of high-spin back holes and find a distinctive pattern of whorls aligned with the spin.
*This work was supported in part by NSF grant 1205550, NSF GRFP grant DGE1144152, and DOE grant DE-SC0009988.
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Presenters
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Delilah E Gates
- Harvard University