The Milky Way's supermassive black hole: how good a case is it? A challenge for astrophysics \& philosophy of science

DOI10.1007/S10701-017-0079-2zbMATH Open1373.83004arXiv1703.09118OpenAlexW2602417451MaRDI QIDQ2014301FDOQ2014301

Authors: Andreas Eckart, Andreas Hüttemann, Claus Kiefer, Silke Britzen, Michal Zajaček, C. Lämmerzahl, Manfred Stoeckler, Monica Valencia-S, Vladimir Karas, Macarena García-Marín 

Publication date: 11 August 2017

Published in: Foundations of Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: The compact and, with 4.3+-0.3 million solar masses, very massive object located at the center of the Milky Way is currently the very best candidate for a supermassive black hole (SMBH) in our immediate vicinity. The strongest evidence for this is provided by measurements of stellar orbits, variable X-ray emission, and strongly variable polarized near-infrared emission from the location of the radio source Sagittarius~A* (SgrA*) in the middle of the central stellar cluster. If SgrA* is indeed a SMBH it will, in projection onto the sky, have the largest event horizon and will certainly be the first and most important target of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations currently being prepared. These observations in combination with the infrared interferometry experiment GRAVITY at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) and other experiments across the electromagnetic spectrum might yield proof for the presence of a black hole at the center of the Milky Way. It is, however, unclear when the ever mounting evidence for SgrA* being associated with a SMBH will suffice as a convincing proof. Additional compelling evidence may come from future gravitational wave observatories. This manuscript reviews the observational facts, theoretical grounds and conceptual aspects for the case of SgrA* being a black hole. We treat theory and observations in the framework of the philosophical discussions about "(Anti)Realism and Underdetermination", as this line of arguments allows us to describe the situation in observational astrophysics with respect to supermassive black holes. Questions concerning the existence of supermassive black holes and in particular SgrA* are discussed using causation as an indispensable element. We show that the results of our investigation are convincingly mapped out by this combination of concepts.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.09118

Recommendations

• IS THERE A SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE AT THE CENTER OF THE MILKY WAY?
• Toward the event horizon -- the supermassive black hole in the Galactic Center
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1341523
• Astrophysical black holes: evidence of a horizon?
• Black holes from stars to galaxies. Across the range of masses. Proceedings of the 238th symposium of the International Astronomical Union, Prague, Czech Republic, August 21--25, 2006.

zbMATH Keywords

causalityunderdeterminationblack holeschargespinmassphilosophy of sciencegalaxies(anti)realismeleatic principlehistory of black holesSagittarussupermassive black hole (SMBH)

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Philosophical and critical aspects of logic and foundations (03A05) Equations of motion in general relativity and gravitational theory (83C10) Physics (00A79) History of mathematics in the 19th century (01A55) History of mathematics in the 20th century (01A60) Applications of differential geometry to physics (53Z05) Quantum field theory on curved space or space-time backgrounds (81T20) Einstein-Maxwell equations (83C22) Methods of quantum field theory in general relativity and gravitational theory (83C47) Black holes (83C57) Galactic and stellar structure (85A15) Research exposition (monographs, survey articles) pertaining to relativity and gravitational theory (83-02) History of relativity and gravitational theory (83-03) Research exposition (monographs, survey articles) pertaining to astronomy and astrophysics (85-02)

Cites Work

• Black hole's \(1 / N\) hair
• Black Hole's quantum N-portrait
• Mach's principle: from Newton's bucket to quantum gravity. Based on the conference at Tübingen, Germany, July 1993
• The Oxford handbook of probability and philosophy
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• A Relativist's Toolkit
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Lens-Like Action of a Star by the Deviation of Light in the Gravitational Field
• On Continued Gravitational Contraction
• General Relativity
• Black hole quantum mechanics in the presence of species
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Gravitational Field of a Spinning Mass as an Example of Algebraically Special Metrics
• Quantum-gravity phenomenology with primordial black holes
• Black Hole Uniqueness Theorems
• Gravitating discs around black holes
• Initial data transients in binary black hole evolutions
• Gravitational Radiation from Point Masses in a Keplerian Orbit
• On Massive Neutron Cores
• The physical basis of the direction of time.
• Quantum gravity.
• Kerr-Newman black holes with scalar hair
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Quantum aspects of black holes
• Indefinite oscillators and black-hole evaporation
• Intermediate and extreme mass-ratio inspirals—astrophysics, science applications and detection using LISA
• On a stationary system with spherical symmetry consisting of many gravitating masses
• On the gravitational field of a point-mass, according to Einstein's theory
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Where are all the gravastars? Limits upon the gravastar model from accreting black holes
• Past-Future Asymmetry of the Gravitational Field of a Point Particle
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Classical limit of black hole quantum \(N\)-portrait and BMS symmetry
• Dark stars: The evolution of an idea
• Shadows of Kerr black holes with and without scalar hair
• No observational proof of the black-hole event-horizon
• Painleve analysis and particular solutions of a coupled nonlinear reaction diffusion system
• Photon regions and shadows of accelerated black holes
• A disintegrating cosmic string
• Event rate estimates for LISA extreme mass ratio capture sources
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• Influence of frame-dragging on magnetic null points near rotating black holes
• Black hole based tests of general relativity
• On interpretation of the magnetized Kerr–Newman black hole
• Circular geodesics and thick tori around rotating boson stars
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• The persistence length of two-dimensional self-avoiding random walks
• Title not available (Why is that?)
• The eleatic and the indispensabilist
• Astrophysics of super-massive black hole mergers

Cited In (9)

• Bifurcations of a soliton model of dark matter towards natural inflation
• Toward the event horizon -- the supermassive black hole in the Galactic Center
• Event horizon silhouette: implications to supermassive black holes in the galaxies M87 and Milky Way
• Dynamical boson stars
• Estimating the parameters of the Sgr A\(^*\) black hole
• IS THERE A SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE AT THE CENTER OF THE MILKY WAY?
• Space and time 62 years after the Berne conference
• Spontaneous scalarization of boson stars
• Comparing timelike geodesics around a Kerr black hole and a boson star

This page was built for publication: The Milky Way's supermassive black hole: how good a case is it? A challenge for astrophysics \& philosophy of science

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q2014301)