Can the EHT M87 results be used to test general relativity?

Abstract

No. All theoretical predictions for the observational appearance of an accreting supermassive black hole, as measured interferometrically by a sparse Earth-sized array at current observation frequencies, are sensitive to many untested assumptions about accretion flow and emission physics. There is no way to distinguish a violation of general relativity from the much more likely scenario that the relevant ``gastrophysical'' assumptions simply do not hold. Tests of general relativity will become possible with longer interferometric baselines (likely requiring a space mission) that reach the resolution where astrophysics-independent predictions of the theory become observable.

Topics & Concepts