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EHT Image of the Black Hole in SgrA* - MPIfR scientists tell the story

Special episode of RadioViews!
This time we have insight information, emotional thoughts, and exciting scientific news collected by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration members at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany. It has been a great, devoting journey since Sagittarius A* was observed by the EHT in 2017. Our colleagues tell their side of the story.
Created by Ms. Joana Kramer and Mr. Luca Ricci

Video #8 - The variable light from the Galactic Centre

Dr. Gunther Witzel is a scientist in the VLBA group at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy. He studies the Galactic Center since 2007, in particular processes in the immediate surrounding of the supermassive black hole, as well as stellar orbits and the mysterious, gaseous objects G1 and G2. He also has contributed to a better technical understanding of the near-infrared telescopes used for these studies.

Variability Timescale and Spectral Index of Sgr A* in the Near Infrared: Approximate Bayesian Computation Analysis of the Variability of the Closest Supermassive Black Hole

G. Witzel, G. Martinez, J. Hora, S. P. Willner, M. R. Morris, C. Gammie, E. E. Becklin, M. L. N. Ashby, F. Baganoff, S. Carey, T. Do, G. G. Fazio, A. Ghez, W. J. Glaccum, D. Haggard, R. Herrero-Illana, J. Ingalls, R. Narayan, and H. A. Smith; The Astrophysical Journal 863 (2018) 15

Video #7: The radio galaxy NGC 315, on jet formation and evolution

Luca Ricci is an international Max Planck Research School PhD candidate. His research focuses on the amazing radio galaxy NGC 315. On that, the wants to study the jet formation processes in radio galaxies on sub-pc/pc scales and their evolution within the external medium.

Video #6: Magnetic sheath wrapping in a relativistic plasma jet at the quasar 3C 273

Dr. Mikhail Lisakov, staff member at the Radio Astronomy/VLBI department of the MPIfR, carries out research with focus on relativistic jets from active galactic nuclei which could provide answers to questions ranging from galaxy evolution to neutrino production. To study Faraday rotation, he developed a model for the jet–sheath system in 3C273 where the sheath is wider than the single-epoch narrow relativistic jet.

An Oversized Magnetic Sheath Wrapping around the Parsec-scale Jet in 3C 273

M. M. Lisakov, E. V. Kravchenko, A. B. Pushkarev, Y. Y. Kovalev, T. K. Savolainen, and M. L. Lister
The Astrophysical Journal, 910 (2021) 35

<span>Dr. Felix Pötzl, recently graduated at the Univ. of Cologne in the framework of the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Astronomy and Astrophysics, presents his PhD project, at which he focused on high-resolution, polarimetric space-VLBI observations of the quasar 3C 345.</span>

Video #5: Felix M. Pötzl on space-VLBI observations of the quasar 3C 345

Dr. Felix Pötzl, recently graduated at the Univ. of Cologne in the framework of the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Astronomy and Astrophysics, presents his PhD project, at which he focused on high-resolution, polarimetric space-VLBI observations of the quasar 3C 345.

Probing the innermost regions of AGN jets and their magnetic fields with RadioAstron. IV. The quasar 3C 345 at 18 cm: Magnetic field structure and brightness temperature

F. M. Pötzl, A. P. Lobanov, E. Ros, J. L. Gómez, G. Bruni, U. Bach, A. Fuentes, L. I. Gurvits, D. L. Jauncey, Y. Y. Kovalev, E. V. Kravchenko, M. M. Lisakov, T. Savolainen, K. V. Sokolovsky, and J. A. Zensus
Astronomy & Astrophysics, 648 (2021) A82

<span>Dr. Thalia Traianou successfully finished her Ph.D. under the supervision of Dr. Thomas Krichbaum at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy as a member of the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Astronomy and Astrophysics in 2020. Her Ph.D. project focused chiefly on the structural evolution and polarization variability of the blazars TXS 2013+370 and 3C 454.3 using VLBI imaging at the ultra-high angular resolution. </span>

Video #4: Thalia Traianou on the localisation of the γ-ray emitting region in the blazar TXS 2013+370

Dr. Thalia Traianou successfully finished her Ph.D. under the supervision of Dr. Thomas Krichbaum at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy as a member of the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Astronomy and Astrophysics in 2020. Her Ph.D. project focused chiefly on the structural evolution and polarization variability of the blazars TXS 2013+370 and 3C 454.3 using VLBI imaging at the ultra-high angular resolution.

Localizing the γ-ray emitting region in the blazar TXS 2013+370

E. Traianou, T. P. Krichbaum, B. Boccardi, R. Angioni, B. Rani, J. Liu, E. Ros, U. Bach, K. V. Sokolovsky, M. M. Lisakov et al. (3 more)
Astronomy & Astrophysics, 634 (2020) A112
Published online: 19 February 2020
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201935756

<span>Ms. Joana Kramer is a Ph.D. candidate at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy and a member of the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Astronomy and Astrophysics. Her research interests cover 3D relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of AGN as well as imaging and studying the (circular) polarization of both the simulations and observational data. Under the supervision of Prof. Eduardo Ros and Dr. Nicholas MacDonald she studies „Very Long Baseline Array Imaging of a TANAMI Active Galactic Nuclei“ and „Extragalactic Jets – Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations & Ray-Tracing“.</span>

Video #3 - Joana Kramer on 3D relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of AGN to study their polarisation properties

Ms. Joana Kramer is a Ph.D. candidate at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy and a member of the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Astronomy and Astrophysics. Her research interests cover 3D relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of AGN as well as imaging and studying the (circular) polarization of both the simulations and observational data. Under the supervision of Prof. Eduardo Ros and Dr. Nicholas MacDonald she studies „Very Long Baseline Array Imaging of a TANAMI Active Galactic Nuclei“ and „Extragalactic Jets – Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations & Ray-Tracing“.

<span><span>Dr. Jae-Young Kim, former post-doctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy and at present staff scientist at the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), studies </span></span><span>the formation and the phenomenology of relativistic jets ejected from supermassive black holes using state-of-art observational techniques, as VLBI observations with the Event Horizon Telescope.</span>

Video #2: Jae-Young Kim on the First Event Horizon Telescope Images of a Black-Hole Powered Jet in the Quasar 3C 279

Dr. Jae-Young Kim, former post-doctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy and at present staff scientist at the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), studies the formation and the phenomenology of relativistic jets ejected from supermassive black holes using state-of-art observational techniques, as VLBI observations with the Event Horizon Telescope.

Event Horizon Telescope imaging of the archetypal blazar 3C 279 at an extreme 20 microarcsecond resolution

Jae-Young Kim, Thomas P. Krichbaum, Avery E. Broderick, Maciek Wielgus, Lindy Blackburn, José L. Gómez, Michael D. Johnson, Katherine L. Bouman, Andrew Chael, Kazunori Akiyama et al. (343 more)
Astronomy & Astrophysics, 640 (2020) A69
Published online: 12 August 2020
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202037493

Related Press Release, April 07, 2020: Something is Lurking in the Heart of 3C 279

April 07, 2020

First Event Horizon Telescope Images of a Black-Hole Powered Jet more

Video #1: Dr. Bia Boccardi on the TeV emitting galaxy 3C 264

Dr. Bia Boccardi, Otto Hahn Group leader at the MPI für Radioastronomie, describes her recent work on the study of the galaxy 3C 264. This was published on July 4th, 2019 at the Volume 627 of the Astronomy & Astrophysics journal, see below.