The Spin of M87*

Understand

Now that the mass of the central black hole in the galaxy M87 has been measured with great precision using different methods, the remaining parameter of the Kerr metric that needs to be estimated is the spin a*.

• We have modeled measurements of the average power of the relativistic jet and an upper limit to the mass accretion rate onto the black hole with general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic models of jet formation.
• This allows us to derive constraints on a* and the black hole magnetic flux phi.
• We find a lower limit on M87*'s spin and magnetic flux of a* > 0.4 and phi > 6 in the prograde case, and a* > 0.5 and phi > 10 in the retrograde case, otherwise the black hole is not able to provide enough energy to power the observed jet.