Spin and mass of the supermassive black hole in the Galactic Center

A new method for exact determination of the masses and spins of black holes from the observations of quasi-periodic oscillations is discussed. The detected signal from the hot clumps in the accretion plasma must contain modulations with two characteristic frequencies: the frequency of rotation of the black hole event horizon and the frequency of the latitudinal precession of the clump’s orbit. Application of the method of two characteristic frequencies for interpretation of the observed quasi-periodic oscillations from the supermassive black hole in the Galactic center in the X-rays and in the near IR region yields the most exact, for the present, values of the mass and the spin (Kerr parameter) of the Sgr A* black hole: M = (4.2 ± 0.2) × 10⁶ M _⊙ and a = 0.65 ± 0.05. The observed quasi-periodic oscillations with a period of about 11.5 min are identified as the black hole event horizon rotation period and those with a period of about 19 min are identified as the latitudinal oscillation period of the hot spot orbits in the accretion disk.     

银河系中心超大质量黑洞

通过对位于银河系中心的非热、致密射电源人马座A*（Sagittarius A*）的高分辨率甚长基线干涉(VLBI)观测,文章作者及其合作者成功地得到人马座A*的固有辐射区域的直径仅为1个天文单位,支持其是超大质量黑洞的物理解释.文章在较详细地介绍此研究的同时,也简要提及了从黑洞概念的最早提出至今的200多年里人们在黑洞物理认知上的一些重大进展.可以预期,未来亚毫米波VLBI观测将有望揭示银河系中心超大质量黑洞的阴影结构.     

Exploring the nature of black hole and gravity with an imminent merging binary of supermassive black holes

A supermassive binary black-hole candidate SDSS J1430+2303 reported recently motivates us to investigate an imminent binary of supermassive black holes as potential gravitational wave source, and the radiated gravitational waves at the end of the merger are shown to be in the band of space-borne detectors. We provide a general analysis on the required detecting sensitivity needed for probing such type gravitational wave sources and make a full discussion by considering two typically designed con...     

Gravitational collapse of dark energy field configurations and supermassive black hole formation

Dark energy is the dominant component of the total energy density of our Universe. The primary interaction of dark energy with the rest of the Universe is gravitational. It is therefore important to understand the gravitational dynamics of dark energy. Since dark energy is a low-energy phenomenon from the perspective of particle physics and field theory, a fundamental approach based on fields in curved space should be sufficient to understand the current dynamics of dark energy. Here, we take a field theory approach to dark energy. We discuss the evolution equations for a generic dark energy field in curved space-time and then discuss the gravitational collapse for dark energy field configurations. We describe the 3 + 1 BSSN formalism to study the gravitational collapse of fields for any general potential for the fields and apply this formalism to models of dark energy motivated by particle physics considerations. We solve the resulting equations for the time evolution of field configurations and the dynamics of space-time. Our results show that gravitational collapse of dark energy field configurations occurs and must be considered in any complete picture of our Universe. We also demonstrate the black hole formation as a result of the gravitational collapse of the dark energy field configurations. The black holes produced by the collapse of dark energy fields are in the supermassive black hole category with the masses of these black holes being comparable to the masses of black holes at the centers of galaxies.     

银河系中心超大质量黑洞的探索历程

经过逾半个世纪的探索,天文学家确认在我们银河系的中心存在一个4百万倍太阳质量的致密天体,很可能是爱因斯坦广义相对论所预言的黑洞。文章简要回顾了探索这个大质量致密天体过程中的若干里程碑。     

Redshift of a compact binary star in the neighborhood of a supermassive black hole

We present a method that allows to calculate the redshift of a compact binary star which moves in a strong external gravitational field, e.g. the field of a supermassive black hole. If the binary is close enough to the field center, its motion can be relativistic, while the relative motion of the stars in the binary is still non-relativistic. The latter can be computed in a co-moving reference frame. We calculate the redshift in a co-moving frame in Fermi coordinates as a series in the size of the binary \(\varrho \). The obtained expression is written in a covariant form up to linear terms in \(\varrho \). Using the equations of motion that have been obtained in a previous paper, we present the method of calculation of the redshift of a sample binary star moving in the field of a black hole. We illustrate this method by numerical model for the case of spherically-symmetric (Schwarzschild) black hole. The method can be applied to the analysis of the timing data of pulsars in the vicinity of the Galactic Center, and to the reconstruction of the binary star motion by its redshift.     

Imaging supermassive black hole shadows with a global very long baseline interferometry array

Frontiers of Physics - We consider the dynamics and formation of vortices from ring dark solitons in a two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate with the Rashba spin-orbit coupling based on the...     

Spin chains with nearest and next nearest neighbour interactions

The 1/n-expansion is applied to a classical one dimensionaln-vector model in an external field with nearest and next nearest neighbour exchange interactions of both signs. Various effects caused by helical spin structures are discussed for the Heisenberg magnet (n=3).—For the spherical model with multi-neighbour interactions Lifshitz points of higher order are found.     

Kerr黑洞的量子面积谱及微黑洞的最小质量

Kerr黑洞仅含有两个参量M和J.把M和J视为广义坐标,并将M,J和它们的共轭量构成四维相空 间，通过规范变换得到了Kerr黑洞的量子面积谱.由此给出了Schwarzschild黑洞的 最小质量. 关键词： 黑洞 量子面积谱 共轭 规范变换     

Do we know the mass of a black hole? Mass of some cosmological black hole models

Using a cosmological black hole model proposed recently, we have calculated the quasi-local mass of a collapsing structure within a cosmological setting due to different definitions put forward in the last decades to see how similar or different they are. It has been shown that the mass within the horizon follows the familiar Brown–York behavior. It increases, however, outside the horizon again after a short decrease, in contrast to the Schwarzschild case. Further away, near the void, outside the collapsed region, and where the density reaches the background minimum, all the mass definitions roughly coincide. They differ, however, substantially far from it. Generically, we are faced with three different Brown–York mass maxima: near the horizon, around the void between the overdensity region and the background, and another at cosmological distances corresponding to the cosmological horizon. While the latter two maxima are always present, the horizon mass maxima is absent before the onset of the central singularity.     

Central black hole mass determination for blazars

In this paper, we use a method to determine some basic parameters for the $\gamma$-ray loud blazars. The parameters include the central black mass ($M$), the boosting factor ($\delta$), the propagation angle (${\it {\it\Phi}}$), the distance along the axis to the site of the $\gamma$-ray production ($d$). A sample including 32 $\gamma$-ray loud blazars with available variability time scales has been used to discuss the above properties. In this method, the $\gamma$-ray energy, the emission size and the property of the accretion disc determine the absorption effect. If we take the intrinsic $\gamma$-ray luminosity to be $\lambda$ times the Eddington luminosity, i.e. $L_{\gamma}^{\rm in}=\lambda{L_{\rm Edd}}$, then we have the following results: the mass of the black hole is in the range of $(0.59-67.99)\times10^{7}M_{\odot} \ (\lambda=1.0)$ or $(0.90-104.13)\times10^{7}M_{\odot} \ (\lambda=0.1)$; the boosting factor ($\delta$) in the range of In this paper, we use a method to determine some basic parameters for the $\gamma$-ray loud blazars. The parameters include the central black mass ($M$), the boosting factor ($\delta$), the propagation angle (${\it {\it\Phi}}$), the distance along the axis to the site of the $\gamma$-ray production ($d$). A sample including 32 $\gamma$-ray loud blazars with available variability time scales has been used to discuss the above properties. In this method, the $\gamma$-ray energy, the emission size and the property of the accretion disc determine the absorption effect. If we take the intrinsic $\gamma$-ray luminosity to be $\lambda$ times the Eddington luminosity, i.e. $L_{\gamma}^{\rm in}=\lambda{L_{\rm Edd}}$, then we have the following results: the mass of the black hole is in the range of $(0.59-67.99)\times10^{7}M_{\odot} \ (\lambda=1.0)$ or $(0.90-104.13)\times10^{7}M_{\odot} \ (\lambda=0.1)$; the boosting factor ($\delta$) in the range of In this paper, we use a method to determine some basic parameters for the $\gamma$-ray loud blazars. The parameters include the central black mass ($M$), the boosting factor ($\delta$), the propagation angle (${\it {\it\Phi}}$), the distance along the axis to the site of the $\gamma$-ray production ($d$). A sample including 32 $\gamma$-ray loud blazars with available variability time scales has been used to discuss the above properties. In this method, the $\gamma$-ray energy, the emission size and the property of the accretion disc determine the absorption effect. If we take the intrinsic $\gamma$-ray luminosity to be $\lambda$ times the Eddington luminosity, i.e. $L_{\gamma}^{\rm in}=\lambda{L_{\rm Edd}}$, then we have the following results: the mass of the black hole is in the range of $(0.59-67.99)\times10^{7}M_{\odot} \ (\lambda=1.0)$ or $(0.90-104.13)\times10^{7}M_{\odot} \ (\lambda=0.1)$; the boosting factor ($\delta$) in the range of In this paper, we use a method to determine some basic parameters for the $\gamma$-ray loud blazars. The parameters include the central black mass ($M$), the boosting factor ($\delta$), the propagation angle (${\it {\it\Phi}}$), the distance along the axis to the site of the $\gamma$-ray production ($d$). A sample including 32 $\gamma$-ray loud blazars with available variability time scales has been used to discuss the above properties. In this method, the $\gamma$-ray energy, the emission size and the property of the accretion disc determine the absorption effect. If we take the intrinsic $\gamma$-ray luminosity to be $\lambda$ times the Eddington luminosity, i.e. $L_{\gamma}^{\rm in}=\lambda{L_{\rm Edd}}$, then we have the following results: the mass of the black hole is in the range of $(0.59-67.99)\times10^{7}M_{\odot} \ (\lambda=1.0)$ or $(0.90-104.13)\times10^{7}M_{\odot} \ (\lambda=0.1)$; the boosting factor ($\delta$) in the range of In this paper, we use a method to determine some basic parameters for the $\gamma$-ray loud blazars. The parameters include the central black mass ($M$), the boosting factor ($\delta$), the propagation angle (${\it {\it\Phi}}$), the distance along the axis to the site of the $\gamma$-ray production ($d$). A sample including 32 $\gamma$-ray loud blazars with available variability time scales has been used to discuss the above properties. In this method, the $\gamma$-ray energy, the emission size and the property of the accretion disc determine the absorption effect. If we take the intrinsic $\gamma$-ray luminosity to be $\lambda$ times the Eddington luminosity, i.e. $L_{\gamma}^{\rm in}=\lambda{L_{\rm Edd}}$, then we have the following results: the mass of the black hole is in the range of $(0.59-67.99)\times10^{7}M_{\odot} \ (\lambda=1.0)$ or $(0.90-104.13)\times10^{7}M_{\odot} \ (\lambda=0.1)$; the boosting factor ($\delta$) in the range of $0.16-2.09(\lambda=1.0)$ or $0.24-2.86\ (\lambda=0.1)$; the angle (${\it\Phi}$) in the range of $9.53^{\circ}-73.85^{\circ}\ (\lambda=1.0)$ or $7.36^{\circ}-68.89^{\circ}\ (\lambda=0.1)$; and the distance ($d/R_{\rm g}$) in the range of $22.39-609.36\ (\lambda=1.0)$ or $17.54-541.88\ (\lambda=0.1)$.     

Constraints on tidal charge of the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center with trajectories of bright stars

As it was pointed out recently in Hees et al. (Phys Rev Lett 118:211101, 2017), observations of stars near the Galactic Center with current and future facilities provide an unique tool to test general relativity (GR) and alternative theories of gravity in a strong gravitational field regime. In particular, the authors showed that the Yukawa gravity could be constrained with Keck and TMT observations. Some time ago, Dadhich et al. (Phys Lett B 487:1, 2001) showed that the Reissner–Nordström metric with a tidal charge is naturally appeared in the framework of Randall–Sundrum model with an extra dimension (\(Q^2\) is called tidal charge and it could be negative in such an approach). Astrophysical consequences of presence of black holes with a tidal charge are considerered, in particular, geodesics and shadows in Kerr–Newman braneworld metric are analyzed in Schee and Stuchlík (Intern J Mod Phys D 18:983, 2009), while profiles of emission lines generated by rings orbiting braneworld Kerr black hole are considered in Schee and Stuchlík (Gen Relat Grav 52:1795, 2009). Possible observational signatures of gravitational lensing in a presence of the Reissner–Nordström black hole with a tidal charge at the Galactic Center are discussed in papers (Bin-Nun in Phys Rev D 81:123011, 2010; Bin-Nun in Phys Rev D 82:064009, 2010; Bin-Nun in Class Quant Grav 28:114003, 2011). Here we are following such an approach and we obtain analytical expressions for orbital precession for Reissner–Nordström–de-Sitter solution in post-Newtonian approximation and discuss opportunities to constrain parameters of the metric from observations of bright stars with current and future astrometric observational facilities such as VLT, Keck, GRAVITY, E-ELT and TMT.     

Formation of supermassive black holes through fragmentation of torodial supermassive stars

We investigate new paths to supermassive black hole formation by considering the general relativistic evolution of a differentially rotating polytrope with a toroidal shape. We find that this polytrope is unstable to nonaxisymmetric modes, which leads to a fragmentation into self-gravitating, collapsing components. In the case of one such fragment, we apply a simplified adaptive mesh refinement technique to follow the evolution to the formation of an apparent horizon centered on the fragment. This is the first study of the onset of nonaxisymmetric dynamical instabilities of supermassive stars in full general relativity.     

On positivity of mass for black hole space-times

For any time-symmetric asymptotically flat initial slice with an apparent horizon, the associated four-momentum measured at spatial infinity is shown to be future-directed and time-like.     

Primordial seeds of supermassive black holes

Supermassive black holes exist in the centers of galaxies, including Milky Way, but there is no compelling theory of their formation. Furthermore, observations of quasars imply that supermassive black holes have already existed at some very high redshifts, suggesting the possibility of their primordial origin. In a class of well-motivated models, inflationary epoch could include two or more periods of inflation dominated by different scalar fields. The transition between such periods of inflation could enhance the spectrum of density perturbations on some specific scale, which could lead to formation of primordial black holes with a very narrow range of masses of the order of 10⁵ solar masses. These primordial black holes could have provided the requisite seeds for the observed population of supermassive black holes.     

Minimum black hole mass from colliding Gaussian packets

We study the formation of a black hole in the collision of two Gaussian packets. Rather than following their dynamical evolution in detail, we assume a horizon forms when the mass function for the two packets becomes larger than half the flat areal radius, as it would occur in a spherically symmetric geometry. This simple approximation allows us to determine the existence of a minimum black hole mass solely related to the width of the packets. We then comment on the possible physical implications, both in classical and quantum physics, and models with extra spatial dimensions.     

Absorption of dark matter by a supermassive black hole at the galactic center: Role of boundary conditions

The evolution of the dark matter distribution at the Galactic center is analyzed. It is caused by the combination of gravitational scattering by stars in the Galactic nucleus (bulge) and absorption by a supermassive black hole at the center of the bulge. Attention is focused on the boundary condition on the black hole. It is shown that its form depends on the energy of dark matter particles. The modified flux of dark matter particles onto the black hole is calculated. Estimates of the amount of absorbed dark matter show that the fraction of dark matter in the total mass of the black hole may be significant. The density of dark matter at the central part of the bulge is calculated. It is shown that recently observed γ radiation from the Galactic center can be attributed to the annihilation of dark matter with this density.     

Dyon black hole and its mass formula in the Tomimatsu-Sato-Yamazaki space-time

It is shown that a dyon solution, characterized by five parameters (massM, angular momentumJ, electric chargeQ, magnetic charge Φ, and distortion parameter δ), has an event horizon for arbitrary odd integer δ and satisfies the Christodoulou-Ruffini mass formula.