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The first very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) detections at 870$\mu$m wavelength (345$\,$GHz frequency) are reported, achieving the highest diffraction-limited angular resolution yet obtained from the surface of the Earth, and the highest-frequency example of the VLBI technique to date. These include strong detections for multiple sources observed on inter-continental baselines between telescopes in Chile, Hawaii, and Spain, obtained during observations in October 2018. The longest-baseline detections approach 11$\,$G$\lambda$ corresponding to an angular resolution, or fringe spacing, of 19$\mu$as. The Allan deviation of the visibility phase at 870$\mu$m is comparable to that at 1.3$\,$mm on the relevant integration time scales between 2 and 100$\,$s. The detections confirm that the sensitivity and signal chain stability of stations in the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) array are suitable for VLBI observations at 870$\mu$m. Operation at this short wavelength, combined with anticipated enhancements of the EHT, will lead to a unique high angular resolution instrument for black hole studies, capable of resolving the event horizons of supermassive black holes in both space and time., Comment: Corresponding author: S. Doeleman

The ring-like images of the two supermassive black holes captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) provide powerful probes of the physics of accretion flows at horizon scales. Specifically, the brightness asymmetry in the images carries information about the angular velocity profile of the inner accretion flow and the inclination of the observer, owing to the Doppler boosts photons experience at their site of emission. In this paper, we develop a method for quantifying the brightness asymmetry of black-hole images in the Fourier domain, which can be measured directly from interferometric data. We apply this method to current EHT data and find that the image of Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) has an unusually low degree of asymmetry that is even lower than that inferred for M87. We then use a covariant semi-analytic model to obtain constraints on the inclinations and velocity profiles of the inner accretion flow for Sgr A*. We find that the lack of significant brightness asymmetry forces the observer inclination to uncomfortably small values ($6-10^\circ$), if the plasma velocity follows Keplerian profiles. Alternatively, larger inclination angles can be accommodated if the plasma velocities are significantly sub-Keplerian and the black hole is not spinning rapidly., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures. Submitted to ApJ

Low density plasmas in curved spacetimes, such as those found in accretion flows around black holes, are challenging to model from first principles, owing to the large scale separation between the characteristic scales of the microscopic processes and large mean-free-paths comparable to the system sizes. Kinetic approaches become necessary to capture the relevant physics but lack the dynamic range to model the global characteristics of the systems. In this paper, we develop new covariant guiding center equations of motion for charges in general relativistic spacetimes that are computationally tractable. We decompose the particle motion into a fast gyration, which we integrate analytically and a slow drift of the guiding center, which can be solved numerically. We derive covariant conservation laws for the motions of the guiding centers and show, through a number of limiting cases, that the equations contain all known drift mechanisms. Finally, we present the general relativistic expressions for the various drift velocities in Schwarzschild spacetimes., Comment: Submitted to ApJ

The partition of turbulent heating between ions and electrons in radiatively inefficient accretion flows plays a crucial role in determining the observational appearance of accreting black holes. Modeling this partition is, however, a challenging problem because of the large scale separation between the macroscopic scales at which energy is injected by turbulence and the microscopic ones at which it is dissipated into heat. Recent studies of particle heating from collisionless damping of turbulent energy have shown that the partition of energy between ions and electrons is dictated by the ratio of the energy injected into the slow and Alfv\'en wave cascades as well as the plasma $\beta$ parameter. In this paper, we study the mechanism of the injection of turbulent energy into slow- and Alfv\'en- wave cascades in magnetized shear flows. We show that this ratio depends on the particular ($r\phi$) components of the Maxwell and Reynolds stress tensors that cause the transport of angular momentum, the shearing rate, and the orientation of the mean magnetic field with respect to the shear. We then use numerical magnetohydrodynamic shearing-box simulations with background conditions relevant to black hole accretion disks to compute the magnitudes of the stress tensors for turbulence driven by the magneto-rotational instability and derive the injection power ratio between slow and Alfv\'en wave cascades. We use these results to formulate a local subgrid model for the ion-to-electron heating ratio that depends on the macroscopic characteristics of the accretion flow., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

Interpretation of resolved polarized images of black holes by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) requires predictions of the polarized emission observable by an Earth-based instrument for a particular model of the black hole accretion system. Such predictions are generated by general relativistic radiative transfer (GRRT) codes, which integrate the equations of polarized radiative transfer in curved spacetime. A selection of ray-tracing GRRT codes used within the EHT collaboration is evaluated for accuracy and consistency in producing a selection of test images, demonstrating that the various methods and implementations of radiative transfer calculations are highly consistent. When imaging an analytic accretion model, we find that all codes produce images similar within a pixel-wise normalized mean squared error (NMSE) of 0.012 in the worst case. When imaging a snapshot from a cell-based magnetohydrodynamic simulation, we find all test images to be similar within NMSEs of 0.02, 0.04, 0.04, and 0.12 in Stokes I, Q, U , and V respectively. We additionally find the values of several image metrics relevant to published EHT results to be in agreement to much better precision than measurement uncertainties., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

Observations of the S-stars, the cluster of young stars in the inner 0.1 pc of the Galactic Center, have been crucial in providing conclusive evidence for a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. Since some of the stars have orbits less than that of a typical human lifetime, it is possible to observe multiple orbits and test the weak-field regime of general relativity. Current calculations of S-star orbits require slow and expensive computations in order to numerically solve geodesic equations for many small time steps. In this paper, we present a computationally efficient, first-order post-Newtonian model for the astrometric and spectroscopic data gathered for the S-stars. We find that future, 30-m class telescopes -- and potentially even current large telescopes with very high spectroscopic resolution -- may be able to detect the Shapiro effect for an S-star in the next decade or so., Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables. v2: edited to match published ApJ version

We present MeqSilhouette v2.0 (MeqSv2), a fully polarimetric, time-and frequency-resolved synthetic data generation software for simulating millimetre (mm) wavelength very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations with heterogeneous arrays. Synthetic data are a critical component in understanding real observations, testing calibration and imaging algorithms, and predicting performance metrics of existing or proposed sites. MeqSv2 applies physics-based instrumental and atmospheric signal corruptions constrained by empirically-derived site and station parameters to the data. The new version is capable of applying instrumental polarization effects and various other spectrally-resolved effects using the Radio Interferometry Measurement Equation (RIME) formalism and produces synthetic data compatible with calibration pipelines designed to process real data. We demonstrate the various corruption capabilities of MeqSv2 using different arrays, with a focus on the effect of complex bandpass gains on closure quantities for the EHT at 230 GHz. We validate the frequency-dependent polarization leakage implementation by performing polarization self-calibration of synthetic EHT data using PolSolve. We also note the potential applications for cm-wavelength VLBI array analysis and design and future directions., Comment: accepted for publication in MNRAS

Very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations of active galactic nuclei at millimeter wavelengths have the power to reveal the launching and initial collimation region of extragalactic radio jets, down to $10-100$ gravitational radii ($r_g=GM/c^2$) scales in nearby sources. Centaurus A is the closest radio-loud source to Earth. It bridges the gap in mass and accretion rate between the supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in Messier 87 and our galactic center. A large southern declination of $-43^{\circ}$ has however prevented VLBI imaging of Centaurus A below ${\lambda}1$cm thus far. Here, we show the millimeter VLBI image of the source, which we obtained with the Event Horizon Telescope at $228$GHz. Compared to previous observations, we image Centaurus A's jet at a tenfold higher frequency and sixteen times sharper resolution and thereby probe sub-lightday structures. We reveal a highly-collimated, asymmetrically edge-brightened jet as well as the fainter counterjet. We find that Centaurus A's source structure resembles the jet in Messier 87 on ${\sim}500r_g$ scales remarkably well. Furthermore, we identify the location of Centaurus A's SMBH with respect to its resolved jet core at ${\lambda}1.3$mm and conclude that the source's event horizon shadow should be visible at THz frequencies. This location further supports the universal scale invariance of black holes over a wide range of masses., Comment: 27 pages, 9 figures. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Nature Astronomy. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-021-01417-w

The images of supermassive black holes surrounded by optically-thin, radiatively-inefficient accretion flows, like those observed with the Event Horizon Telescope, are characterized by a bright ring of emission surrounding the black-hole shadow. In the Kerr spacetime this bright ring, when narrow, closely traces the boundary of the shadow and can, with appropriate calibration, serve as its proxy. The present paper expands the validity of this statement by considering two particular spacetime geometries: a solution to the field equations of a modified gravity theory and another that parametrically deviates from Kerr but recovers the Kerr spacetime when its deviation parameters vanish. A covariant, axisymmetric analytic model of the accretion flow based on conservation laws and spanning a broad range of plasma conditions is utilized to calculate synthetic non-Kerr black-hole images, which are then analysed and characterized. We find that in all spacetimes: (i) it is the gravitationally-lensed unstable photon orbit that plays the critical role in establishing the diameter of the rings observed in black-hole images, not the event horizon or the innermost stable circular orbit, (ii) bright rings in these images scale in size with, and encompass, the boundaries of the black-hole shadows, even when deviating significantly from Kerr, and (iii) uncertainties in the physical properties of the accreting plasma introduce subdominant corrections to the relation between the diameter of the image and the diameter of the black-hole shadow. These results provide important new theoretical justification for using black-hole images to probe and test the spacetimes of supermassive black holes., Comment: 30 pages, 18 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ

Binary neutron star mergers provide a unique probe of the dense-matter equation of state (EoS) across a wide range of parameter space, from the zero-temperature EoS during the inspiral to the high-temperature EoS following the merger. In this paper, we implement a new model for calculating parametrized finite-temperature EoS effects into numerical relativity simulations. This "M* model" is based on a two-parameter approximation of the particle effective mass and includes the leading-order effects of degeneracy in the thermal pressure and energy. We test our numerical implementation by performing evolutions of rotating single stars with zero- and non-zero temperature gradients, as well as evolutions of binary neutron star mergers. We find that our new finite-temperature EoS implementation can support stable stars over many dynamical timescales. We also perform a first parameter study to explore the role of the M* parameters in binary neutron star merger simulations. All simulations start from identical initial data with identical cold EoSs, and differ only in the thermal part of the EoS. We find that both the thermal profile of the remnant and the post-merger gravitational wave signal depend on the choice of M* parameters, but that the total merger ejecta depends only weakly on the finite-temperature part of the EoS across a wide range of parameters. Our simulations provide a first step toward understanding how the finite-temperature properties of dense matter may affect future observations of binary neutron star mergers.

The Galactic Center black hole Sgr A* shows significant variability and flares in the submillimeter, infrared, and X-ray wavelengths. Owing to its exquisite resolution in the IR bands, the GRAVITY experiment for the first time spatially resolved the locations of three flares and showed that a bright region moves in ellipse-like trajectories close to but offset from the black hole over the course of each event. We present a model for plasmoids that form during reconnection events and orbit in the coronal region around a black hole to explain these observations. We utilize general-relativistic radiative transfer calculations that include effects from finite light travel time, plasmoid motion, particle acceleration, and synchrotron cooling and obtain a rich structure in the flare lightcurves. This model can naturally account for the observed motion of the bright regions observed by the GRAVITY experiment and the offset between the center of the centroid motion and the position of the black hole. It also explains why some flares may be double-peaked while others have only a single peak and uncovers a correlation between the structure in the lightcurve and the location of the flare. Finally, we make predictions for future observations of flares from the inner accretion flow of Sgr A* that will provide a test of this model., Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures

We present a recent Chandra observation of the quiescent low-mass X-ray binary containing a neutron star, located in the globular cluster M30. We fit the thermal emission from the neutron star to extract its mass and radius. We find no evidence of flux variability between the two observations taken in 2001 and 2017, nor between individual 2017 observations, so we analyse them together to increase the signal to noise. We perform simultaneous spectral fits using standard light-element composition atmosphere models (hydrogen or helium), including absorption by the interstellar medium, correction for pile-up of X-ray photons on the detector, and a power-law for count excesses at high photon energy. Using a Markov-chain Monte Carlo approach, we extract mass and radius credible intervals for both chemical compositions of the atmosphere: $R_{\textrm{NS}}=7.94^{+0.76}_{-1.21}$ km and $M_{\textrm{NS}}<1.19$ M$_{\odot}$ assuming pure hydrogen, and $R_{\textrm{NS}}=10.50^{+2.88}_{-2.03}$ km and $M_{\textrm{NS}}<1.78$ M$_{\odot}$ for helium, where the uncertainties represent the 90% credible regions. For H, the small radius is difficult to reconcile with most current nuclear physics models (especially for nucleonic equations of state) and with other measurements of neutron star radii, with recent preferred values generally in the 11-14 km range. Whereas for He, the measured radius is consistent with this range. We discuss possible sources of systematic uncertainty that may result in an underestimation of the radius, identifying the presence of surface temperature inhomogeneities as the most relevant bias. According to this, we conclude that either the atmosphere is composed of He, or it is a H atmosphere with a significant contribution of hot spots to the observed radiation., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Electron acceleration during magnetic reconnection is thought to play a key role in time-variable high-energy emission from astrophysical systems. By means of particle-in-cell simulations of trans-relativistic reconnection, we investigate electron injection and acceleration mechanisms in low-$\beta$ electron-proton plasmas. We set up a diversity of density and field structures (e.g., X-points and plasmoids) by varying the guide field strength and choosing whether to trigger reconnection or let it spontaneously evolve. We show that the number of X-points and plasmoids controls the efficiency of electron acceleration, with more X-points leading to a higher efficiency. Using on-the-fly acceleration diagnostics, we also show that the non-ideal electric fields associated with X-points play a critical role in the first stages of electron acceleration. As a further diagnostic, we include two populations of test particles that selectively experience only certain components of electric fields. We find that the out-of-plane component of the parallel electric field determines the hardness of the high-energy tail of the electron energy distribution. These results further our understanding of electron acceleration in this regime of magnetic reconnection and have implications for realistic models of black hole accretion flows., Comment: 21 pages, 20 figures

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is taking the first images of black holes resolved at horizon scales to measure their shadows and probe accretion physics. A promising avenue for testing the hypothesis that astrophysical black holes are described by the Kerr solution to Einstein's equations is to compare the size and shape of the shadow a black hole casts on the surrounding emission to the predictions of the Kerr metric. We develop here an efficient parametric framework to perform this test. We carry out ray-tracing simulations for several parametrized non-Kerr metrics to create a large data set of non-Kerr shadows that probe the allowed parameter space for the free parameters of each metric. We then perform principal components analysis (PCA) on this set of shadows and show that only a small number of components are needed to accurately reconstruct all shadows within the set. We further show that the amplitude of the PCA components are smoothly related to the free parameters in the metrics, and therefore, that these PCA components can be fit to EHT observations in order to place constraints on the free parameters of these metrics that will help quantify any potential deviations from the Kerr solution., Comment: New figure added, new simulations run correcting typo in previous work, accepted to ApJ

Thermal X-ray emission from rotation-powered pulsars is believed to originate from localized "hotspots" on the stellar surface occurring where large-scale currents from the magnetosphere return to heat the atmosphere. Lightcurve modeling has primarily been limited to simple models, such as circular antipodal emitting regions with constant temperature. We calculate more realistic temperature distributions within the polar caps, taking advantage of recent advances in magnetospheric theory, and we consider their effect on the predicted lightcurves. The emitting regions are non-circular even for a pure dipole magnetic field, and the inclusion of an aligned magnetic quadrupole moment introduces a north-south asymmetry. As the aligned quadrupole moment is increased, one hotspot grows in size before becoming a thin ring surrounding the star. For the pure dipole case, moving to the more realistic model changes the lightcurves by $5-10\%$ for millisecond pulsars, helping to quantify the systematic uncertainty present in current dipolar models. Including the quadrupole gives considerable freedom in generating more complex lightcurves. We explore whether these simple dipole+quadrupole models can account for the qualitative features of the lightcurve of PSR J0437$-$4715., Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures

This white paper highlights compact object and fundamental physics science opportunities afforded by high-throughput broadband (0.1-60 keV) X-ray polarization observations. X-ray polarimetry gives new observables with geometric information about stellar remnants which are many orders of magnitude too small for direct imaging. The X-ray polarimetric data also reveal details about the emission mechanisms and the structure of the magnetic fields in and around the most extreme objects in the Universe. Whereas the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) to be launched in 2021 will obtain first results for bright objects, a follow-up mission could be one order of magnitude more sensitive and would be able to use a broader bandpass to perform physics type experiments for representative samples of sources., Comment: White Paper submitted to the Astro2020 Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey organized by the Board of Physics and Astronomy and the Space Studies Board of the National Academies

Massive 10^6-10^10 Msun black holes (BHs) are ubiquitous in local galactic nuclei. They were common by the time the Universe is several Gyr old, and many of them were in place within the first 1~Gyr after the Big Bang. Their quick assembly has been attributed to mechanisms such as the rapid collapse of gas into the nuclei of early protogalaxies, accretion and mergers of stellar-mass BHs accompanying structure formation at early times, and the runaway collapse of early, ultra-dense stellar clusters. The origin of the early massive BHs remains an intriguing and long-standing unsolved puzzle in astrophysics. Here we discuss strategies for discerning between BH seeding models using electromagnetic observations. We argue that the most direct answers will be obtained through detection of BHs with masses M<10^5 Msun at redshifts z>10, where we expect them to first form. Reaching out to these redshifts and down to these masses is crucial, because BHs are expected to lose the memory of their initial assembly by the time they grow well above 10^5 Msun and are incorporated into higher-mass galaxies. The best way to detect 10^4-10^5 Msun BHs at high redshifts is by a sensitive X-ray survey. Critical constraining power is augmented by establishing the properties and the environments of their host galaxies in deep optical/IR imaging surveys. Required OIR data can be obtained with the JWST and WFIRST missions. The required X-ray flux limits (down to 10^{-19} erg/s/cm^2) are accessible only with a next-generation X-ray observatory which has both high (sub-1") angular resolution and high throughput. A combination of deep X-ray and OIR surveys will be capable of probing several generic markers of the BH seed scenarios, and resolving the long-stanging puzzle of their origin. These electromagnetic observations are also highly synergistic with the information from LISA on high-z BH mergers., Comment: Science white paper submitted to the Astro2020 Decadal Survey

We explore the use of principal component analysis (PCA) to characterize high-fidelity simulations and interferometric observations of the millimeter emission that originates near the horizons of accreting black holes. We show mathematically that the Fourier transforms of eigenimages derived from PCA applied to an ensemble of images in the spatial-domain are identical to the eigenvectors of PCA applied to the ensemble of the Fourier transforms of the images, which suggests that this approach may be applied to modeling the sparse interferometric Fourier-visibilities produced by an array such as the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). We also show that the simulations in the spatial domain themselves can be compactly represented with a PCA-derived basis of eigenimages allowing for detailed comparisons between variable observations and time-dependent models, as well as for detection of outliers or rare events within a time series of images. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the spectrum of PCA eigenvalues is a diagnostic of the power spectrum of the structure and, hence, of the underlying physical processes in the simulated and observed images., Comment: 16 pages, 17 figures, submitted to ApJ

Gravitational waves from the coalescence of two neutron stars were recently detected for the first time by the LIGO-Virgo collaboration, in event GW170817. This detection placed an upper limit on the effective tidal deformability of the two neutron stars and tightly constrained the chirp mass of the system. We report here on a new simplification that arises in the effective tidal deformability of the binary, when the chirp mass is specified. We find that, in this case, the effective tidal deformability of the binary is surprisingly independent of the component masses of the individual neutron stars, and instead depends primarily on the ratio of the chirp mass to the neutron star radius. Thus, a measurement of the effective tidal deformability can be used to directly measure the neutron star radius. We find that the upper limit on the effective tidal deformability from GW170817 implies that the radius cannot be larger than ~13km, at the 90% level, independent of the assumed masses for the component stars. The result can be applied generally, to probe the stellar radii in any neutron star-neutron star merger with a measured chirp mass. The approximate mass-independence disappears for neutron star-black hole mergers. Finally, we discuss a Bayesian inference of the equation of state that uses the measured chirp mass and tidal deformability from GW170817 combined with nuclear and astrophysical priors and discuss possible statistical biases in this inference., Comment: Submitted to ApJ Letters

Non-thermal electron acceleration via magnetic reconnection is thought to play an important role in powering the variable X-ray emission from radiatively inefficient accretion flows around black holes. The trans-relativistic regime of magnetic reconnection, where the magnetization $\sigma$, defined as the ratio of magnetic energy density to enthalpy density, is $\sim 1$, is frequently encountered in such flows. By means of a large suite of two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we investigate electron and proton acceleration in the trans-relativistic regime. We focus on the dependence of the electron energy spectrum on $\sigma$ and the proton $\beta$ (i.e., the ratio of proton thermal pressure to magnetic pressure). We find that the electron spectrum in the reconnection region is non-thermal and can be generally modeled as a power law. At $\beta \lesssim 3 \times 10^{-3}$, the slope, $p$, is independent of $\beta$ and it hardens with increasing $\sigma$ as $p\simeq 1.8 +0.7/\sqrt{\sigma}$. Electrons are primarily accelerated by the non-ideal electric field at X-points, either in the initial current layer or in current sheets generated in between merging magnetic islands. At higher values of $\beta$, the electron power law steepens for all values of $\sigma$. At values of $\beta$ near $\beta_{\rm max}\approx1/4\sigma$, when both electrons and protons are relativistically hot prior to reconnection, the spectra of both species display an additional component at high energies, containing a few percent of particles. These particles are accelerated via a Fermi-like process by bouncing in between the reconnection outflow and a stationary magnetic island. We provide an empirical prescription for the dependence of the power-law slope and the acceleration efficiency on $\beta$ and $\sigma$, which can be used in global simulations of collisionless accretion disks., Comment: 19 pages, 23 figures, submitted to ApJ

The mass distribution of compact objects provides a fossil record that can be studied to uncover information on the late stages of massive star evolution, the supernova explosion mechanism, and the dense matter equation of state. Observations of neutron star masses indicate a bimodal Gaussian distribution, while the observed black hole mass distribution decays exponentially for stellar-mass black holes. We use these observed distributions to directly confront the predictions of stellar evolution models and the neutrino-driven supernova simulations of Sukhbold et al. (2016). We find excellent agreement between the black hole and low-mass neutron star distributions created by these simulations and the observations. We show that a large fraction of the stellar envelope must be ejected, either during the formation of stellar-mass black holes or prior to the implosion through tidal stripping due to a binary companion, in order to reproduce the observed black hole mass distribution. We also determine the origins of the bimodal peaks of the neutron star mass distribution, finding that the low-mass peak (centered at ~1.4 M_sun) originates from progenitors with M_zams ~ 9-18 M_sun. The simulations fail to reproduce the observed peak of high-mass neutron stars (centered at ~1.8 M_sun) and we explore several possible explanations. We argue that the close agreement between the observed and predicted black hole and low-mass neutron star mass distributions provides new promising evidence that these stellar evolution and explosion models are accurately capturing the relevant stellar, nuclear, and explosion physics involved in the formation of compact objects., Comment: Typos in fit coefficients corrected, results unchanged. 13 pages, 10 figures. Submitted to ApJ

Non-ideal MHD effects may play a significant role in determining the dynamics, thermal properties, and observational signatures of radiatively inefficient accretion flows onto black holes. In particular, particle acceleration during magnetic reconnection events may influence black hole spectra and flaring properties. We use representative GRMHD simulations of black hole accretion flows to identify and explore the structures and properties of current sheets as potential sites of magnetic reconnection. In the case of standard and normal (SANE) disks, we find that, in the reconnection sites, the plasma beta ranges from $0.1$ to $1000$, the magnetization ranges from $10^{-4}$ to $1$, and the guide fields are weak compared to the reconnecting fields. In magnetically arrested (MAD) disks, we find typical values for plasma beta from $10^{-2}$ to $10^3$, magnetizations from $10^{-3}$ to $10$, and typically stronger guide fields, with strengths comparable to or greater than the reconnecting fields. These are critical parameters that govern the electron energy distribution resulting from magnetic reconnection and can be used in the context of plasma simulations to provide microphysics inputs to global simulations. We also find that ample magnetic energy is available in the reconnection regions to power the fluence of bright X-ray flares observed from the black hole in the center of the Milky Way., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, submitted to ApJ

One of the key goals of observing neutron stars is to infer the equation of state (EoS) of the cold, ultradense matter in their interiors. We present here a Bayesian statistical method of inferring the pressures at five fixed densities, from a sample of mock neutron star masses and radii. We show that while five polytropic segments are needed for maximum flexibility in the absence of any prior knowledge of the EoS, regularizers are also necessary to ensure that simple underlying EoS are not over-parametrized. For ideal data with small measurement uncertainties, we show that the pressure at roughly twice the nuclear saturation density, rho_sat, can be inferred to within 0.3 dex for many realizations of potential sources of uncertainties. The pressures of more complicated EoS with significant phase transitions can also be inferred to within ~30%. We also find that marginalizing the multi-dimensional parameter space of pressure to infer a mass-radius relation can lead to biases of nearly 1 km in radius, towards larger radii. Using the full, five-dimensional posterior likelihoods avoids this bias., Comment: Submitted to ApJ. 9 pages, 8 figures

The observable quantities that carry the most information regarding the structures of the images of black holes in the interferometric observations with the Event Horizon Telescope are the closure phases along different baseline triangles. We use long time span, high cadence, GRMHD+radiative transfer models of Sgr A$^*$ to investigate the expected variability of closure phases in such observations. We find that, in general, closure phases along small baseline triangles show little variability, except in the cases when one of the triangle vertices crosses one of a small regions of low visibility amplitude. The closure phase variability increases with the size of the baseline triangle, as larger baselines probe the small-scale structures of the images, which are highly variable. On average, the jet-dominated MAD models show less closure phase variability than the disk-dominated SANE models, even in the large baseline triangles, because the images from the latter are more sensitive to the turbulence in the accretion flow. Our results suggest that image reconstruction techniques need to explicitly take into account the closure phase variability, especially if the quality and quantity of data allow for a detailed characterization of the nature of variability. This also implies that, if image reconstruction techniques that rely on the assumption of a static image are utilized, regions of the $u-v$ space that show a high level of variability will need to be identified and excised., Comment: submitted to apj. 12 pages, 12 figures

The increasing number and precision of measurements of neutron star masses, radii, and, in the near future, moments of inertia offer the possibility of precisely determining the neutron star equation of state. One way to facilitate the mapping of observables to the equation of state is through a parametrization of the latter. We present here a generic method for optimizing the parametrization of any physically allowed EoS. We use mock equations of state that incorporate physically diverse and extreme behavior to test how well our parametrization reproduces the global properties of the stars, by minimizing the errors in the observables mass, radius, and the moment of inertia. We find that using piecewise polytropes and sampling the EoS with five fiducial densities between ~1-8 times the nuclear saturation density results in optimal errors for the smallest number of parameters. Specifically, it recreates the radii of the assumed EoS to within less than 0.5 km for the extreme mock equations of state and to within less than 0.12 km for 95% of a sample of 42 proposed, physically-motivated equations of state. Such a parametrization is also able to reproduce the maximum mass to within 0.04 M_sun and the moment of inertia of a 1.338 M_sun neutron star to within less than 10% for 95% of the proposed sample of equations of state., Comment: Minor changes made to match published ApJ version

We investigate black hole-host galaxy scaling relations in cosmological simulations with a self-consistent black hole growth and feedback model. The sub-grid accretion model captures the key scalings governing angular momentum transport from galactic scales down to parsec scales, while our kinetic feedback implementation enables the injection of outflows with properties chosen to match observed nuclear outflows. We show that "quasar mode" feedback can have a large impact on the thermal properties of the intergalactic medium and the growth of galaxies and massive black holes for kinetic feedback efficiencies as low as 0.1% relative to the bolometric luminosity. Nonetheless, our simulations suggest that the black hole-host scaling relations are only weakly dependent on the effects of black hole feedback on galactic scales, owing to feedback suppressing the growth of galaxies and massive black holes by a similar amount. In contrast, the rate at which gravitational torques feed the central black hole relative to the host galaxy star formation rate governs the slope and normalization of the black hole-host correlations. Our results suggest that a common gas supply regulated by gravitational torques is the primary driver of the observed co-evolution of black holes and galaxies., Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, submitted to MNRAS

We present Chandra ACIS-S sub-array observations of the quiescent neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries X7 and X5 in the globular cluster 47 Tuc. The large reduction in photon pile-up compared to previous deep exposures enables a substantial improvement in the spectroscopic determination of the neutron star radius and mass of these neutron stars. Modeling the thermal emission from the neutron star surface with a non-magnetized hydrogen atmosphere and accounting for numerous sources of uncertainties, we obtain for the neutron star in X7 a radius of $R=11.1^{+0.8}_{-0.7}$ km for an assumed stellar mass of $M=1.4$ M$_{\odot}$ (68% C.L.). We argue, based on astrophysical grounds, that the presence of a He atmosphere is unlikely for this source. Due to eclipses and variable absorption, the quiescent low-mass X-ray binary X5 provides less stringent constraints, leading to a radius of $R=9.6^{+0.9}_{-1.1}$ km, assuming a hydrogen atmosphere and a mass of $M=1.4$ M$_{\odot}$. When combined with all other existing spectroscopic radius measurements, these measurements strongly favor radii in the 9.9-11.2 km range for a ~1.5 M$_{\odot}$ neutron star and point to a dense matter equation of state that is somewhat softer than the nucleonic ones that are consistent with laboratory experiments at low densities., Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures; submitted to the Astrophysical Journal

The Galactic Center black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) is a prime observing target for the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), which can resolve the 1.3 mm emission from this source on angular scales comparable to that of the general relativistic shadow. Previous EHT observations have used visibility amplitudes to infer the morphology of the millimeter-wavelength emission. Potentially much richer source information is contained in the phases. We report on 1.3 mm phase information on Sgr A* obtained with the EHT on a total of 13 observing nights over 4 years. Closure phases, the sum of visibility phases along a closed triangle of interferometer baselines, are used because they are robust against phase corruptions introduced by instrumentation and the rapidly variable atmosphere. The median closure phase on a triangle including telescopes in California, Hawaii, and Arizona is nonzero. This result conclusively demonstrates that the millimeter emission is asymmetric on scales of a few Schwarzschild radii and can be used to break 180-degree rotational ambiguities inherent from amplitude data alone. The stability of the sign of the closure phase over most observing nights indicates persistent asymmetry in the image of Sgr A* that is not obscured by refraction due to interstellar electrons along the line of sight., Comment: 11 pages, accepted to ApJ

One of the primary science goals of the next generation of hard X-ray timing instruments is to determine the equation of state of the matter at supranuclear densities inside neutron stars, by measuring the radius of neutron stars with different masses to accuracies of a few percent. Three main techniques can be used to achieve this goal. The first involves waveform modelling. The flux we observe from a hotspot on the neutron star surface offset from the rotational pole will be modulated by the star's rotation, giving rise to a pulsation. Information about mass and radius is encoded into the pulse profile via relativistic effects, and tight constraints on mass and radius can be obtained. The second technique involves characterising the spin distribution of accreting neutron stars. The most rapidly rotating stars provide a very clean constraint, since the mass-shedding limit is a function of mass and radius. However the overall spin distribution also provides a guide to the torque mechanisms in operation and the moment of inertia, both of which can depend sensitively on dense matter physics. The third technique is to search for quasi-periodic oscillations in X-ray flux associated with global seismic vibrations of magnetars (the most highly magnetized neutron stars), triggered by magnetic explosions. The vibrational frequencies depend on stellar parameters including the dense matter equation of state. We illustrate how these complementary X-ray timing techniques can be used to constrain the dense matter equation of state, and discuss the results that might be expected from a 10m$^2$ instrument. We also discuss how the results from such a facility would compare to other astronomical investigations of neutron star properties. [Modified for arXiv], Comment: To appear in Reviews of Modern Physics as a Colloquium, 23 pages, 9 figures

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is a millimeter-wavelength, very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) experiment that is capable of observing black holes with horizon-scale resolution. Early observations have revealed variable horizon-scale emission in the Galactic Center black hole, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). Comparing such observations to time-dependent general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations requires statistical tools that explicitly consider the variability in both the data and the models. We develop here a Bayesian method to compare time-resolved simulation images to variable VLBI data, in order to infer model parameters and perform model comparisons. We use mock EHT data based on GRMHD simulations to explore the robustness of this Bayesian method and contrast it to approaches that do not consider the effects of variability. We find that time-independent models lead to offset values of the inferred parameters with artificially reduced uncertainties. Moreover, neglecting the variability in the data and the models often leads to erroneous model selections. We finally apply our method to the early EHT data on Sgr A*., Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, published in ApJ (replaced with accepted version)

This paper describes the Polarization Spectroscopic Telescope Array (PolSTAR), a mission proposed to NASA's 2014 Small Explorer (SMEX) announcement of opportunity. PolSTAR measures the linear polarization of 3-50 keV (requirement; goal: 2.5-70 keV) X-rays probing the behavior of matter, radiation and the very fabric of spacetime under the extreme conditions close to the event horizons of black holes, as well as in and around magnetars and neutron stars. The PolSTAR design is based on the technology developed for the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission launched in June 2012. In particular, it uses the same X-ray optics, extendable telescope boom, optical bench, and CdZnTe detectors as NuSTAR. The mission has the sensitivity to measure ~1% linear polarization fractions for X-ray sources with fluxes down to ~5 mCrab. This paper describes the PolSTAR design as well as the science drivers and the potential science return., Comment: (Astroparticle Physics in press, 34 pages, 23 figures, 6 tables)

We combine cosmological hydrodynamic simulations with analytic models to evaluate the role of galaxy-scale gravitational torques on the evolution of massive black holes at the centers of star-forming galaxies. We confirm and extend our earlier results to show that torque-limited growth yields black holes and host galaxies evolving on average along the Mbh-Mbulge relation from early times down to z = 0 and that convergence onto the scaling relation occurs independent of the initial conditions and with no need for mass averaging through mergers or additional self-regulation processes. Smooth accretion dominates the long-term evolution, with black hole mergers with mass ratios >1:5 representing typically a small fraction of the total growth. Winds from the accretion disk are required to eject significant mass to suppress black hole growth, but there is no need for coupling this wind to galactic-scale gas to regulate black holes in a non-linear feedback loop. Torque-limited growth yields a close-to-linear relation for the star formation rate and the black hole accretion rate averaged over galaxy evolution time scales. However, the SFR-AGN connection has significant scatter owing to strong variability of black hole accretion at all resolved time scales. Eddington ratios can be described by a broad lognormal distribution with median value evolving roughly as (1 + z)^1.9, suggesting a main sequence for black hole growth similar to the cosmic evolution of specific SFRs. Our results offer an attractive scenario consistent with available observations in which cosmological gas infall and transport of angular momentum in the galaxy by gravitational instabilities regulate the long-term co-evolution of black holes and star-forming galaxies., Comment: 26 pages, 15 figures, replaced by published version

We use high-resolution cosmological zoom simulations with ~200 pc resolution at z = 2 and various prescriptions for galactic outflows in order to explore the impact of winds on the morphological, dynamical, and structural properties of eight individual galaxies with halo masses ~ 10^11--2x10^12 Msun at z = 2. We present a detailed comparison to spatially and spectrally resolved H{\alpha} and other observations of z ~ 2 galaxies. We find that simulations without winds produce massive, compact galaxies with low gas fractions, super-solar metallicities, high bulge fractions, and much of the star formation concentrated within the inner kpc. Strong winds are required to maintain high gas fractions, redistribute star-forming gas over larger scales, and increase the velocity dispersion of simulated galaxies, more in agreement with the large, extended, turbulent disks typical of high-redshift star-forming galaxies. Winds also suppress early star formation to produce high-redshift cosmic star formation efficiencies in better agreement with observations. Sizes, rotation velocities, and velocity dispersions all scale with stellar mass in accord with observations. Our simulations produce a diversity of morphological characteristics - among our three most massive galaxies, we find a quiescent grand-design spiral, a very compact star-forming galaxy, and a clumpy disk undergoing a minor merger; the clumps are evident in H{\alpha} but not in the stars. Rotation curves are generally slowly rising, particularly when calculated using azimuthal velocities rather than enclosed mass. Our results are broadly resolution-converged. These results show that cosmological simulations including outflows can produce disk galaxies similar to those observed during the peak epoch of cosmic galaxy growth., Comment: 22 pages, 13 figures, ApJ accepted

Recent models of black hole growth in a cosmological context have forwarded a paradigm in which the growth is self-regulated by feedback from the black hole itself. Here we use cosmological zoom simulations of galaxy formation down to z = 2 to show that such strong self-regulation is required in the popular spherical Bondi accretion model, but that a plausible alternative model in which black hole growth is limited by galaxy-scale torques does not require self-regulation. Instead, this torque-limited accretion model yields black holes and galaxies evolving on average along the observed scaling relations by relying only on a fixed, 5% mass retention rate onto the black hole from the radius at which the accretion flow is fed. Feedback from the black hole may (and likely does) occur, but does not need to couple to galaxy-scale gas in order to regulate black hole growth. We show that this result is insensitive to variations in the initial black hole mass, stellar feedback, or other implementation details. The torque-limited model allows for high accretion rates at very early epochs (unlike the Bondi case), which if viable can help explain the rapid early growth of black holes, while by z = 2 it yields Eddington factors of 1%-10%. This model also yields a less direct correspondence between major merger events and rapid phases of black hole growth. Instead, growth is more closely tied to cosmological disk feeding, which may help explain observational studies showing that, at least at z > 1, active galaxies do not preferentially show merger signatures., Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures, published in The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 770, Issue 1, article id. 5 (2013)

We explore the evolution of the mass distribution of dust in collision-dominated debris disks, using the collisional code introduced in our previous paper. We analyze the equilibrium distribution and its dependence on model parameters by evolving over 100 models to 10 Gyr. With our numerical models, we confirm that systems reach collisional equilibrium with a mass distribution that is steeper than the traditional solution by Dohnanyi (1969). Our model yields a quasi steady-state slope of n(m) ~ m^{-1.88} [n(a) ~ a^{-3.65}] as a robust solution for a wide range of possible model parameters. We also show that a simple power-law function can be an appropriate approximation for the mass distribution of particles in certain regimes. The steeper solution has observable effects in the submillimeter and millimeter wavelength regimes of the electromagnetic spectrum. We assemble data for nine debris disks that have been observed at these wavelengths and, using a simplified absorption efficiency model, show that the predicted slope of the particle mass distribution generates SEDs that are in agreement with the observed ones., Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, Accepted by ApJ, emulateapj

Lynx, one of the four strategic mission concepts under study for the 2020 Astrophysics Decadal Survey, provides leaps in capability over previous and planned x-ray missions and provides synergistic observations in the 2030s to a multitude of space- and ground-based observatories across all wavelengths. Lynx provides orders of magnitude improvement in sensitivity, on-axis subarcsecond imaging with arcsecond angular resolution over a large field of view, and high-resolution spectroscopy for point-like and extended sources in the 0.2- to 10-keV range. The Lynx architecture enables a broad range of unique and compelling science to be carried out mainly through a General Observer Program. This program is envisioned to include detecting the very first seed black holes, revealing the high-energy drivers of galaxy formation and evolution, and characterizing the mechanisms that govern stellar evolution and stellar ecosystems. The Lynx optics and science instruments are carefully designed to optimize the science capability and, when combined, form an exciting architecture that utilizes relatively mature technologies for a cost that is compatible with the projected NASA Astrophysics budget.