Jet Physics on Event Horizon Scales and Beyond

• Applicants: Dr. Christian Fromm; Professor Dr. Matthias Kadler
• Subject Area: Astrophysics and Astronomy
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 443220636

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has proven to be capable of imaging microarcsecond-scalestructures near supermassive black holes. In the prominently featured case of M 87, this has led to an image of the mass accretion region with a resolution of roughly ten Schwarzschild radii. Using the same array and frequency, other nearby active galaxies with smaller black-hole masses can be observed on scales of hundreds of Schwarzschild radii, probing the jet-launching, acceleration and collimation zone. This has recently been demonstrated for the case of 3C 279. In addition, only four other AGN were main targets in the 2017 and 2018 EHT observing sessions, three of which will be analyzed here. This project includes: (I) imaging AGN jets with highest-resolution VLBI observations at 1 mm (EHT) and 3 mm (GMVA), (II) modeling with state-of-the-art numerical general relativistic magneto hydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations and general relativistic radiative transfer (GRRT) calculations, and (III) synthetic imaging and coupling of observations and numerical modelling using computational intelligence.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 5195: Relativistic Jets in Active Galaxies
• International Connection: United Kingdom
• Co-Investigators: Professor Dr. Eduardo Ros; Professor Dr. J. Anton Zensus
• Cooperation Partner: Dr. Ziri Younsi