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arxiv: 1409.5447 · v1 · pith:BWNGQYA4new · submitted 2014-09-18 · 🌌 astro-ph.HE

Event-Horizon-Telescope Evidence for Alignment of the Black Hole in the Center of the Milky Way with the Inner Stellar Disk

classification 🌌 astro-ph.HE
keywords blackholeflowinclinationaccretionalignmentangularcenter
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Observations of the black hole in the center of the Milky Way with the Event Horizon Telescope at 1.3 mm have revealed a size of the emitting region that is smaller than the size of the black-hole shadow. This can be reconciled with the spectral properties of the source, if the accretion flow is seen at a relatively high inclination (50-60 degrees). Such an inclination makes the angular momentum of the flow, and perhaps of the black hole, nearly aligned with the angular momenta of the orbits of stars that lie within 3 arcsec from the black hole. We discuss the implications of such an alignment for the properties of the black hole and of its accretion flow. We argue that future Event-Horizon-Telescope observations will not only refine the inclination of Sgr A* but also measure precisely its orientation on the plane of the sky.

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