Imaging the Shadow of a Supermassive Black Hole with the Event Horizon Telescope

Using Very Long Baseline Interferometry at 1.3mm wavelength, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration recently published the first images of a black hole. I will discuss the breakthroughs that made these images possible and their implications for our understanding of supermassive black holes. I will also describe the emerging capabilities of the EHT to study relativistic dynamics of accretion flows, to elucidate the role of magnetic fields in jet launching, and to enable precision tests of General Relativity. Finally, I will discuss the complex, fractal structure that is predicted to appear in higher resolution images of black holes, which enables a new type of telescope that could image thousands of supermassive black holes.

Host: Cliff Will