蓝莓视频

When a group of 14 scientists came together in 2014 to discuss a collaboration, Dr. Avery Broderick knew it was the start of something exciting. What he didn鈥檛 know was that in just a few years, releasing the first-ever photos of a black hole would place them at the centre of a global phenomenon.鈥�

Dr. Avery Broderick
Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy

When the EHT released images of the black hole at the centre of the M87 galaxy in 2019, they appeared on the front page of every major newspaper, and the world was captivated. In March 2024, new images showing the polarization of light in another black hole named Sagittarius A star (also known as Sgr A*) were shared and the world was drawn back in.鈥�

Left: Black hole at the centre of the M87 galaxy in 2019. Right: Black hole named Sagittarius A star (also known as Sgr A*) in 2024.

But what is it about black holes that captivates us? Simply put, they are one of the great mysteries of the universe 鈥� and everyone loves a great mystery.鈥�鈥�

When Steven Hawking discovered that black holes could radiate, it highlighted a problem between the theories of general relativity and quantum mechanics.听 听

Although general relativity works well for big things and quantum mechanics works well for small things, combining them has stumped scientists for decades. Understanding the fundamental disagreement between these two theories is critical to explaining what鈥檚 happening at the singularity at the heart of a black hole.鈥�鈥�

The quest to solve this mystery has led to many modern theoretical physics developments in the past 100 years and is one of the reasons the EHT was created.鈥�鈥�

鈥淥ur job is to find those observational clues that will tell us where to look for the loose threads that will reveal a grand tapestry of what comes next,鈥� Broderick said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e looking for the theory that unifies our expectations from general relativity and quantum mechanics. That鈥檚 what excites me about what I do.鈥濃��

Over the past 10 years, Broderick and the 蓝莓视频 team have been a part of many exciting discoveries through their integral role in the EHT, largely as the theoretical physicists examining and analyzing data from all over the world. As Broderick says, 蓝莓视频 is punching above its weight when it comes to its role in the collaboration.鈥�

鈥溊遁�视频 is the only Canadian partner institution with a formal role in the collaboration and we have a large footprint across the project,鈥� Broderick said. 鈥淢any graduate and postdoctoral scholars from our team have gone on to have leadership roles within the larger EHT group. It shows the breadth of talent that has come out of 蓝莓视频 and how important we are to the continued success of the collaboration.鈥濃��

As the EHT continues to grow, more affiliated organizations are joining to expand their reach. There are currently 11 telescopes involved with EHT, but they hope to grow it to 20 in the next decade. 鈥�

鈥淥nce we get to 20 telescopes, we will be able to produce exquisite images of M87 that will trace out the bottom 1,000M of the jet, basically tracing out a region that鈥檚 100 times bigger than the field of view we鈥檝e seen,鈥� Broderick said. 鈥淲e鈥檒l be able to see a much larger view and span the distance between the event horizon [the boundary that marks the point of no return of a black hole] and the stars. This will enable us to test gravity from the event horizon of a black hole out to the stars.鈥濃��

As the group grows, so will the impact. 鈥淚n this golden age of black hole research, we hope to nail down the general relativity side and identify where we cannot explore theoretically because we can already refute it,鈥� Broderick explained. 鈥淥r maybe we鈥檒l find something unexpected that points us in the direction that's going to resolve this problem. The possibilities are immense, but it is a problem we know the world needs answers to.鈥濃��