Project description
Optical polarimetry: shedding light on elusive black hole processes
Black holes are regions of spacetime where gravity’s pull is so strong that not even electromagnetic waves, including visible light, have enough energy to escape them. Supermassive black holes have masses – and thus gravitational forces – millions to billions of times greater. In a seemingly contradictory but well-explained process, black holes emit jets and winds of gas and dust that can be detected as light all along the electromagnetic spectrum. The ERC-funded BOOTES project will leverage an unparalleled optical polarimeter to obtain comprehensive opto-polarimetric data of rare tidal disruption events and relativistic jets for the first time. The data will inform models that should reveal two fundamental black hole processes.
Objective
Supermassive black holes form the most intriguing astrophysical systems offering countless opportunities to study fundamental physics in regimes not accessible to laboratories on Earth. Their multimessenger emission manifests in the formation of accretion disks, jets, and the acceleration of extremely energetic particles all of which are still poorly understood. Optical polarization can provide answers to such long-standing black hole physics questions since optical polarization signatures clearly distinguish between competing theories. However, the optopolarimetric data necessary for such a task are missing. BOOTES is a unique joint observational and theoretical program that can unify our understanding of transient (tidal disruption events) and steady (active galactic nuclei) supermassive black hole systems using optopolarimetry. The unprecedented telescope time (109 nights/year) and high-accuracy optical polarimeter available to the proposed work will allow us to produce (1) the first comprehensive optical polarization monitoring of tidal disruption events; (2) the first systematic very-high-cadence optical polarization monitoring of relativistic jets. Having clear polarization expectations from the state-of-the-art models we will uncover two fundamental black hole processes: the accretion disk formation mechanism; the high-energy particle energization process in relativistic jets – two open questions currently at a precipice of a breakthrough in black hole studies.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsHost institution
70013 Irakleio
Greece