Precessing jet nozzle connecting to a spinning black hole in M87

Yuzhu Cui; Kazuhiro Hada; Tomohisa Kawashima; Motoki Kino; Weikang Lin; Yosuke Mizuno; Hyunwook Ro; Mareki Honma; Kunwoo Yi; Jintao Yu; Jongho Park; Wu Jiang; Zhiqiang Shen; Evgeniya Kravchenko; Juan Carlos Algaba; Xiaopeng Cheng; Ilje Cho; Gabriele Giovannini; Marcello Giroletti; Taehyun Jung; Ru Sen Lu; Kotaro Niinuma; Junghwan Oh; Ken Ohsuga; Satoko Sawada-Satoh; Bong Won Sohn; Hiroyuki R. Takahashi; Mieko Takamura; Fumie Tazaki; Sascha Trippe; Kiyoaki Wajima; Kazunori Akiyama; Tao An; Keiichi Asada; Salvatore Buttaccio; Do Young Byun; Lang Cui; Yoshiaki Hagiwara; Tomoya Hirota; Jeffrey Hodgson; Noriyuki Kawaguchi; Jae Young Kim; Sang Sung Lee; Jee Won Lee; Jeong Ae Lee; Giuseppe Maccaferri; Andrea Melis; Alexey Melnikov; Carlo Migoni; Se Jin Oh; Koichiro Sugiyama; Xuezheng Wang; Yingkang Zhang; Zhong Chen; Ju Yeon Hwang; Dong Kyu Jung; Hyo Ryoung Kim; Jeong Sook Kim; Hideyuki Kobayashi; Bin Li; Guanghui Li; Xiaofei Li; Zhiyong Liu; Qinghui Liu; Xiang Liu; Chung Sik Oh; Tomoaki Oyama; Duk Gyoo Roh; Jinqing Wang; Na Wang; Shiqiang Wang; Bo Xia; Hao Yan; Jae Hwan Yeom; Yoshinori Yonekura; Jianping Yuan; Hua Zhang; Rongbing Zhao; Weiye Zhong

doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06479-6

Precessing jet nozzle connecting to a spinning black hole in M87

Yuzhu Cui, Kazuhiro Hada, Tomohisa Kawashima, Motoki Kino, Weikang Lin, Yosuke Mizuno, Hyunwook Ro, Mareki Honma, Kunwoo Yi, Jintao Yu, Jongho Park, Wu Jiang, Zhiqiang Shen, Evgeniya Kravchenko, Juan Carlos Algaba, Xiaopeng Cheng, Ilje Cho, Gabriele Giovannini, Marcello Giroletti, Taehyun JungRu Sen Lu, Kotaro Niinuma, Junghwan Oh, Ken Ohsuga, Satoko Sawada-Satoh, Bong Won Sohn, Hiroyuki R. Takahashi, Mieko Takamura, Fumie Tazaki, Sascha Trippe, Kiyoaki Wajima, Kazunori Akiyama, Tao An, Keiichi Asada, Salvatore Buttaccio, Do Young Byun, Lang Cui, Yoshiaki Hagiwara, Tomoya Hirota, Jeffrey Hodgson, Noriyuki Kawaguchi, Jae Young Kim, Sang Sung Lee, Jee Won Lee, Jeong Ae Lee, Giuseppe Maccaferri, Andrea Melis, Alexey Melnikov, Carlo Migoni, Se Jin Oh, Koichiro Sugiyama, Xuezheng Wang, Yingkang Zhang, Zhong Chen, Ju Yeon Hwang, Dong Kyu Jung, Hyo Ryoung Kim, Jeong Sook Kim, Hideyuki Kobayashi, Bin Li, Guanghui Li, Xiaofei Li, Zhiyong Liu, Qinghui Liu, Xiang Liu, Chung Sik Oh, Tomoaki Oyama, Duk Gyoo Roh, Jinqing Wang, Na Wang, Shiqiang Wang, Bo Xia, Hao Yan, Jae Hwan Yeom, Yoshinori Yonekura, Jianping Yuan, Hua Zhang, Rongbing Zhao, Weiye Zhong

Department of Physics and Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

38 Scopus citations

Abstract

The nearby radio galaxy M87 offers a unique opportunity to explore the connections between the central supermassive black hole and relativistic jets. Previous studies of the inner region of M87 revealed a wide opening angle for the jet originating near the black hole^1–4. The Event Horizon Telescope resolved the central radio source and found an asymmetric ring structure consistent with expectations from general relativity⁵. With a baseline of 17 years of observations, there was a shift in the jet’s transverse position, possibly arising from an 8- to 10-year quasi-periodicity³. However, the origin of this sideways shift remains unclear. Here we report an analysis of radio observations over 22 years that suggests a period of about 11 years for the variation in the position angle of the jet. We infer that we are seeing a spinning black hole that induces the Lense–Thirring precession of a misaligned accretion disk. Similar jet precession may commonly occur in other active galactic nuclei but has been challenging to detect owing to the small magnitude and long period of the variation.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	711-715
Number of pages	5
Journal	Nature
Volume	621
Issue number	7980
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06479-6
State	Published - 28 Sep 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

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10.1038/s41586-023-06479-6

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Cui, Y., Hada, K., Kawashima, T., Kino, M., Lin, W., Mizuno, Y., Ro, H., Honma, M., Yi, K., Yu, J., Park, J., Jiang, W., Shen, Z., Kravchenko, E., Algaba, J. C., Cheng, X., Cho, I., Giovannini, G., Giroletti, M., ... Zhong, W. (2023). Precessing jet nozzle connecting to a spinning black hole in M87. Nature, 621(7980), 711-715. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06479-6

@article{5b9817fe68f24b36aa5d454fc2ddfdd5,

title = "Precessing jet nozzle connecting to a spinning black hole in M87",

abstract = "The nearby radio galaxy M87 offers a unique opportunity to explore the connections between the central supermassive black hole and relativistic jets. Previous studies of the inner region of M87 revealed a wide opening angle for the jet originating near the black hole1–4. The Event Horizon Telescope resolved the central radio source and found an asymmetric ring structure consistent with expectations from general relativity5. With a baseline of 17 years of observations, there was a shift in the jet{\textquoteright}s transverse position, possibly arising from an 8- to 10-year quasi-periodicity3. However, the origin of this sideways shift remains unclear. Here we report an analysis of radio observations over 22 years that suggests a period of about 11 years for the variation in the position angle of the jet. We infer that we are seeing a spinning black hole that induces the Lense–Thirring precession of a misaligned accretion disk. Similar jet precession may commonly occur in other active galactic nuclei but has been challenging to detect owing to the small magnitude and long period of the variation.",

author = "Yuzhu Cui and Kazuhiro Hada and Tomohisa Kawashima and Motoki Kino and Weikang Lin and Yosuke Mizuno and Hyunwook Ro and Mareki Honma and Kunwoo Yi and Jintao Yu and Jongho Park and Wu Jiang and Zhiqiang Shen and Evgeniya Kravchenko and Algaba, {Juan Carlos} and Xiaopeng Cheng and Ilje Cho and Gabriele Giovannini and Marcello Giroletti and Taehyun Jung and Lu, {Ru Sen} and Kotaro Niinuma and Junghwan Oh and Ken Ohsuga and Satoko Sawada-Satoh and Sohn, {Bong Won} and Takahashi, {Hiroyuki R.} and Mieko Takamura and Fumie Tazaki and Sascha Trippe and Kiyoaki Wajima and Kazunori Akiyama and Tao An and Keiichi Asada and Salvatore Buttaccio and Byun, {Do Young} and Lang Cui and Yoshiaki Hagiwara and Tomoya Hirota and Jeffrey Hodgson and Noriyuki Kawaguchi and Kim, {Jae Young} and Lee, {Sang Sung} and Lee, {Jee Won} and Lee, {Jeong Ae} and Giuseppe Maccaferri and Andrea Melis and Alexey Melnikov and Carlo Migoni and Oh, {Se Jin} and Koichiro Sugiyama and Xuezheng Wang and Yingkang Zhang and Zhong Chen and Hwang, {Ju Yeon} and Jung, {Dong Kyu} and Kim, {Hyo Ryoung} and Kim, {Jeong Sook} and Hideyuki Kobayashi and Bin Li and Guanghui Li and Xiaofei Li and Zhiyong Liu and Qinghui Liu and Xiang Liu and Oh, {Chung Sik} and Tomoaki Oyama and Roh, {Duk Gyoo} and Jinqing Wang and Na Wang and Shiqiang Wang and Bo Xia and Hao Yan and Yeom, {Jae Hwan} and Yoshinori Yonekura and Jianping Yuan and Hua Zhang and Rongbing Zhao and Weiye Zhong",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.",

year = "2023",

month = sep,

day = "28",

doi = "10.1038/s41586-023-06479-6",

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Cui, Y, Hada, K, Kawashima, T, Kino, M, Lin, W, Mizuno, Y, Ro, H, Honma, M, Yi, K, Yu, J, Park, J, Jiang, W, Shen, Z, Kravchenko, E, Algaba, JC, Cheng, X, Cho, I, Giovannini, G, Giroletti, M, Jung, T, Lu, RS, Niinuma, K, Oh, J, Ohsuga, K, Sawada-Satoh, S, Sohn, BW, Takahashi, HR, Takamura, M, Tazaki, F, Trippe, S, Wajima, K, Akiyama, K, An, T, Asada, K, Buttaccio, S, Byun, DY, Cui, L, Hagiwara, Y, Hirota, T, Hodgson, J, Kawaguchi, N, Kim, JY, Lee, SS, Lee, JW, Lee, JA, Maccaferri, G, Melis, A, Melnikov, A, Migoni, C, Oh, SJ, Sugiyama, K, Wang, X, Zhang, Y, Chen, Z, Hwang, JY, Jung, DK, Kim, HR, Kim, JS, Kobayashi, H, Li, B, Li, G, Li, X, Liu, Z, Liu, Q, Liu, X, Oh, CS, Oyama, T, Roh, DG, Wang, J, Wang, N, Wang, S, Xia, B, Yan, H, Yeom, JH, Yonekura, Y, Yuan, J, Zhang, H, Zhao, R & Zhong, W 2023, 'Precessing jet nozzle connecting to a spinning black hole in M87', Nature, vol. 621, no. 7980, pp. 711-715. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06479-6

TY - JOUR

T1 - Precessing jet nozzle connecting to a spinning black hole in M87

AU - Cui, Yuzhu

AU - Hada, Kazuhiro

AU - Kawashima, Tomohisa

AU - Kino, Motoki

AU - Lin, Weikang

AU - Mizuno, Yosuke

AU - Ro, Hyunwook

AU - Honma, Mareki

AU - Yi, Kunwoo

AU - Yu, Jintao

AU - Park, Jongho

AU - Jiang, Wu

AU - Shen, Zhiqiang

AU - Kravchenko, Evgeniya

AU - Algaba, Juan Carlos

AU - Cheng, Xiaopeng

AU - Cho, Ilje

AU - Giovannini, Gabriele

AU - Giroletti, Marcello

AU - Jung, Taehyun

AU - Lu, Ru Sen

AU - Niinuma, Kotaro

AU - Oh, Junghwan

AU - Ohsuga, Ken

AU - Sawada-Satoh, Satoko

AU - Sohn, Bong Won

AU - Takahashi, Hiroyuki R.

AU - Takamura, Mieko

AU - Tazaki, Fumie

AU - Trippe, Sascha

AU - Wajima, Kiyoaki

AU - Akiyama, Kazunori

AU - An, Tao

AU - Asada, Keiichi

AU - Buttaccio, Salvatore

AU - Byun, Do Young

AU - Cui, Lang

AU - Hagiwara, Yoshiaki

AU - Hirota, Tomoya

AU - Hodgson, Jeffrey

AU - Kawaguchi, Noriyuki

AU - Kim, Jae Young

AU - Lee, Sang Sung

AU - Lee, Jee Won

AU - Lee, Jeong Ae

AU - Maccaferri, Giuseppe

AU - Melis, Andrea

AU - Melnikov, Alexey

AU - Migoni, Carlo

AU - Oh, Se Jin

AU - Sugiyama, Koichiro

AU - Wang, Xuezheng

AU - Zhang, Yingkang

AU - Chen, Zhong

AU - Hwang, Ju Yeon

AU - Jung, Dong Kyu

AU - Kim, Hyo Ryoung

AU - Kim, Jeong Sook

AU - Kobayashi, Hideyuki

AU - Li, Bin

AU - Li, Guanghui

AU - Li, Xiaofei

AU - Liu, Zhiyong

AU - Liu, Qinghui

AU - Liu, Xiang

AU - Oh, Chung Sik

AU - Oyama, Tomoaki

AU - Roh, Duk Gyoo

AU - Wang, Jinqing

AU - Wang, Na

AU - Wang, Shiqiang

AU - Xia, Bo

AU - Yan, Hao

AU - Yeom, Jae Hwan

AU - Yonekura, Yoshinori

AU - Yuan, Jianping

AU - Zhang, Hua

AU - Zhao, Rongbing

AU - Zhong, Weiye

PY - 2023/9/28

Y1 - 2023/9/28

N2 - The nearby radio galaxy M87 offers a unique opportunity to explore the connections between the central supermassive black hole and relativistic jets. Previous studies of the inner region of M87 revealed a wide opening angle for the jet originating near the black hole1–4. The Event Horizon Telescope resolved the central radio source and found an asymmetric ring structure consistent with expectations from general relativity5. With a baseline of 17 years of observations, there was a shift in the jet’s transverse position, possibly arising from an 8- to 10-year quasi-periodicity3. However, the origin of this sideways shift remains unclear. Here we report an analysis of radio observations over 22 years that suggests a period of about 11 years for the variation in the position angle of the jet. We infer that we are seeing a spinning black hole that induces the Lense–Thirring precession of a misaligned accretion disk. Similar jet precession may commonly occur in other active galactic nuclei but has been challenging to detect owing to the small magnitude and long period of the variation.

AB - The nearby radio galaxy M87 offers a unique opportunity to explore the connections between the central supermassive black hole and relativistic jets. Previous studies of the inner region of M87 revealed a wide opening angle for the jet originating near the black hole1–4. The Event Horizon Telescope resolved the central radio source and found an asymmetric ring structure consistent with expectations from general relativity5. With a baseline of 17 years of observations, there was a shift in the jet’s transverse position, possibly arising from an 8- to 10-year quasi-periodicity3. However, the origin of this sideways shift remains unclear. Here we report an analysis of radio observations over 22 years that suggests a period of about 11 years for the variation in the position angle of the jet. We infer that we are seeing a spinning black hole that induces the Lense–Thirring precession of a misaligned accretion disk. Similar jet precession may commonly occur in other active galactic nuclei but has been challenging to detect owing to the small magnitude and long period of the variation.

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U2 - 10.1038/s41586-023-06479-6

DO - 10.1038/s41586-023-06479-6

M3 - Article

C2 - 37758892

AN - SCOPUS:85172789349

SN - 0028-0836

VL - 621

SP - 711

EP - 715

JO - Nature

JF - Nature

IS - 7980

ER -

Precessing jet nozzle connecting to a spinning black hole in M87

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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