Sara
Issaoun
is
an
NHFP
Einstein
Fellow
at
the
Center
for
Astrophysics
|
Harvard
&
Smithsonian
and
a
member
of
the
Event
Horizon
Telescope
collaboration.
Her
research
centers
around
the
collection,
calibration,
and
imaging
of
millimeter-wave
radio
observations
of
supermassive
black
holes.
Sara
aims
to
expand
millimeter-wave
radio
imaging
capabilities
and
forge
strong
connections
between
the
first
images
of
supermassive
black
hole
shadows
and
physics
probed
by
partner
facilities
across
the
electromagnetic
spectrum.
Multi-wavelength
constraints
on
black
hole
accretion
flow
properties
will
critically
inform
the
scientific
interpretation
of
images
of
black
hole
shadows,
our
understanding
of
jet-launching
mechanisms,
black
hole
spin
measurements,
and,
ultimately,
precision
tests
of
General
Relativity.
Talk title and abstract
Our supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* across the radio band
Last Spring, the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration revealed the first images of the shadow of our Milky Way supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). Since its detection in the mid-70s, this bright radio source in the Galactic Center was shrouded in a veil of mystery. The Nobel-awarded stellar orbits research in the Galactic Center pinned down its mass and distance, showing evidence of an extremely compact 4 million-solar-mass object at the heart of our Galaxy. The EHT then provided the first direct evidence that this object is indeed a black hole and resolved its shadow for the first time. In this talk, I will explain the challenges of imaging Sgr A* and how these were overcome by the EHT, and I will walk through important milestones of discovery across the radio band that laid the foundation for the first image of our black hole.
This
will
be
a
hybrid
seminar.
If
you
would
like
to
join
in
person,
please
meet
in
the
Physics
building
(Room
308).
Would
you
like
to
join
this
seminar
via
Zoom?
Please email WCA.