Shanghai Astronomical Observatory Astrophysics Colloquium

Title：The Event Horizon Telescope: From the First Image to the First Movie of a Black Hole

Speaker：Prof.Laurent Loinard (UNAM)

Special Time：3:00 pm May 13th (Wednesday)

Tencent Meeting：535-295-593

Location:Lecture Hall, 3rd floor

Abstract：In 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration released the first image of a supermassive black hole: the one residing at the center of the galaxy M87. Since that milestone, the EHT has established a rich legacy that includes the first images of Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the center of the Milky Way; the first images of black hole environments in polarized light—both linear and circular—revealing dynamically important magnetic fields near the event horizon and favoring magnetically arrested disk models; and the first strong evidence for intrinsic time variability in both total intensity and magnetic field structure.

In this colloquium, I will review these key scientific results and discuss the evolution of the EHT array that made them possible. I will conclude by describing ongoing developments and future efforts aimed at obtaining the first time-resolved “movie” of a black hole, probing horizon-scale dynamics on timescales comparable to the characteristic timescales of the system.

CV：

•     Professor of astrophysics at UNAM specializing in high angular resolution imaging and ultra high precision astrometry using advanced radio interferometry techniques.

•     Visiting Professor, Black Hole Initiative, Harvard University

•     Director of the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration

•     Research interests include star formation, astrochemistry, stellar radio emission, and black hole physics, alongside the development of next-generation techniques and instrumentation.

•     Robert F. Kennedy Visiting Professorship, Harvard University (2024)

•     The World Academy of Science (TWAS) Prize 2022

•     Bessel Prize, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, 2011

•     Guggenheim Fellow, 2010

•     + various prize (incl. Breakthrough Prize 2019 and Einstein Medal 2020 as EHTC member)

Koushare link to the recorded presentation