Supermassive Black Hole Imaging with a Self-consistent Electron-temperature Prescription

Abstract The recent 230 GHz observations by the Event Horizon Telescope have resolved the innermost structure of the M87 galaxy, revealing a ring-like feature consistent with thermal synchrotron emission from a magnetized torus surrounding a rotating supermassive black hole. Moreover, Global Millimeter VLBI Array observations at 86 GHz have revealed a larger-scale, edge-brightened jet with clear signatures of nonthermal emission. The theoretical modelling of these observations involves advanced general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of magnetized accretion disks around rotating black holes, together with the associated synchrotron emission, which is normally treated with simplified expressions for the electron temperature and assuming a purely thermal distribution. However, an important nonthermal component is expected to be present, making the thermal-emission model not only an approximation but also a source of degeneracy in the modelling. In view of this, we here present the first application of an ab initio approach to the electron temperature derived from microscopic simulations of turbulent collisionless plasmas. This novel method, which has no tunable coefficients and is fully specified by the thermodynamical and magnetic properties of the plasma, provides a better description of the jet morphology and width at 86 GHz, as well as of the broadband spectral emission. These findings highlight the importance of incorporating microscopic plasma physics in black hole imaging and emphasise the crucial role of magnetic reconnection in electron heating and acceleration processes.