Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Black Hole Initiative, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Nature. 2023 Mar;615(7953):597-604. doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-05768-4. Epub 2023 Mar 22.
Recent developments have ushered in a new era in the field of black-hole astrophysics, providing a direct view of the remarkable environment near black-hole event horizons. These observations have enabled astronomers to confirm long-standing ideas on the physics of gas flowing into black holes with temperatures that are hundreds of times greater than at the centre of the Sun. At the same time, the observations have conclusively shown that light rays near a black hole experience large deflections that cause a dark shadow in the centre of the image, an effect predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity. With further investment, this field is poised to deliver decades of advances in our understanding of gravity and black holes through stringent tests of general relativity, as well as insights into the role of black holes as the central engines powering a wide range of astronomical phenomena.
近年来的发展为黑洞天体物理学领域带来了新纪元，使我们能够直接观测到黑洞事件视界附近非凡的环境。这些观测使天文学家能够证实长期以来关于流入黑洞的气体物理特性的观点，这些气体的温度比太阳中心的温度高出数百倍。与此同时，这些观测结果确凿无疑地表明，黑洞附近的光线会经历大的偏折，从而在图像中心产生一个暗区，这是爱因斯坦广义相对论所预测的效应。如果进一步投资，这个领域有望通过对广义相对论进行严格的测试，以及深入了解黑洞作为驱动广泛天文现象的中心引擎的作用，为我们对引力和黑洞的理解带来数十年的进展。
