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Discriminating Accretion States via Rotational Symmetry in Simulated Polarimetric Images of M87

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arxiv 2004.01751 v1 pith:Y63I34ND submitted 2020-04-03 astro-ph.HE

classification astro-ph.HE
keywords imagesaccretiondecompositionmodelspolarimetricanglebetablack
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abstract

In April 2017, the Event Horizon Telescope observed the shadow of the supermassive black hole at the core of the elliptical galaxy Messier 87. While the original image was constructed from measurements of the total intensity, full polarimetric data were also collected, and linear polarimetric images are expected in the near future. We propose a modal image decomposition of the linear polarization field into basis functions with varying azimuthal dependence of the electric vector position angle. We apply this decomposition to images of ray traced general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics simulations of the Messier 87 accretion disk. For simulated images that are physically consistent with previous observations, the magnitude of the coefficient associated with rotational symmetry, $\beta_2$, is a useful discriminator between accretion states. We find that at 20 $\mu$as resolution, $|\beta_2|$ is greater than 0.2 only for models of disks with horizon-scale magnetic pressures large enough to disrupt steady accretion. We also find that images with a more radially directed electric vector position angle correspond to models with higher black hole spin. Our analysis demonstrates the utility of the proposed decomposition as a diagnostic framework to improve constraints on theoretical models.

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Cited by 5 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

  1. VAPOLA -- A multi-year, multi-band polarization survey of AGN and Sgr A* at mm wavelengths with ALMA I. Survey Overview and Science-Ready Archival Products

    astro-ph.GA 2026-07 accept novelty 6.0 of 10

    An automated pipeline and web portal deliver science-ready, full-polarization ALMA data products from VLBI campaigns for AGN and Sgr A* across Bands 3, 6, and 7.

  2. VAPOLA -- A multi-year, multi-band polarization survey of AGN and Sgr A* at mm wavelengths with ALMA I. Survey Overview and Science-Ready Archival Products

    astro-ph.GA 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    VAPOLA releases multi-epoch multi-band ALMA full-Stokes products and polarimetric fits for AGN and Sgr A* via an automated pipeline and web portal.

  3. Dynamics and geometry of the inner sub-parsec-scale jet in 3C 279 observed with the Event Horizon Telescope

    astro-ph.GA 2026-07 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    EHT 2021 images of 3C 279 reveal an intrinsic, sideways-elongated jet base whose components move at apparent speeds up to 10c, implying a sub-parsec bend toward the observer and viewing angles below one degree.

  4. Distinct Near-Horizon Trend of Synchrotron Polarization in Kerr Spacetime

    gr-qc 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 5.0 of 10

    Near-horizon synchrotron polarization in Kerr spacetime admits a distinct analytic form where the leading-order pattern depends only on spin and polar angle under stationary axisymmetric degenerate EM field assumptions.

  5. Semi-analytical Study on the Polarized Images of Black Hole due to Frame Dragging

    gr-qc 2025-08 unverdicted novelty 5.0 of 10

    Frame dragging flips an initially retrograde equatorial flow around a Kerr black hole, and the polarized image shows three distinct critical locations whose spatial hierarchy is derived analytically for an on-axis observer.

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