Mexico City /
The first incredible image of a black hole, which was captured in 2019, helped us learn more about the theory of relativity Albert Einstein. With this finding, a huge support of the scientist was born. We tell you how the first photo of a black hole supports the theory of relativity Einstein.
Despite his successes, Einstein’s solid theory – the idea that gravity is a matter that deforms space-time – remains mathematically irreconcilable with quantum mechanics, the scientific understanding of the subatomic world.
Proof of general relativity is important, because the ultimate theory of the universe must include both gravity and quantum mechanics.
“We expect a complete theory of gravity to be different from general relativity, but there are many ways to change it. We have found that whatever the theory is, it cannot be significantly different from general relativity when it comes to black holes. the space for possible change, “said Dimitrios Psaltis, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Arizona who until recently was a scientist on the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration project.
Psaltis is the lead author of a new paper in Physical Review Letters. detailing the researchers’ findings.
“This is a new way to test general relativity using supermassive black holes,” said Keiichi Asada, a member of the EHT Scientific Council and an expert in black hole radio observations for the Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics.
To perform the test, the team used the first image ever taken with the supermassive black hole in the center of the nearby galaxy M87, obtained with EHT last year.
The first results showed that the shadow size of the black hole was consistent with the size predicted by general relativity.
“At the time, I couldn’t ask the opposite question: how different can a theory of gravity be from general relativity and still be consistent with the size of the shadow?” said Pierre Christian, a member of Arizona Administrator Theory. “We wondered if we could do something with these remarks to rule out some of the alternatives.”
The team made a very comprehensive analysis of many changes to the theory of general relativity to identify the unique feature of the theory of gravity that determines the size of the shadow of a black hole.
“In this way, we can now show whether any alternative to general relativity agrees with the observations of the Horizon Event Telescope, without worrying about other details,” said Lia Medeiros, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study who was part of the collaboration. EHT since she was a student at Arizona.
The team focused on the range of alternatives that have passed all previous tests in the solar system.
“Using the meter we developed, we showed that the measured size of the shadow of the black hole in the M87 reduces the freedom to change Einstein’s theory of general relativity by almost a factor of 500 compared to previous tests in the solar system,” he said. Feryal Özel, professor of astrophysics in Arizona, senior member of the EHT collaboration.
“Many ways to change general relativity fail in this new and stricter black hole shadow test.”
“Images of black holes provide a whole new angle for testing Einstein’s theory of general relativity,” said Michael Kramer, director of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy and a member of the EHT collaboration.
“Together with gravitational wave observations, it marks the beginning of a new era in black hole astrophysics,” Psaltis said.
Next, the EHT team is expecting higher fidelity images, which will be captured by its extensive range of telescopes, which include the Greenland Telescope, the 12-meter Kitt Telescope at Arizona’s Kitt Peak and France’s Extended Extended Millimeter Array Observatory.
coat of arms