Avery Broderick

Avery Broderick profile picture
University of Waterloo
Areas of research:
If you are interested in pursuing a MSc degree, please apply to the Perimeter Scholars International (PSI) masters program. If you are interested in working with me as a PhD student, please submit an application directly to my department at the University of Waterloo and indicate that you would like to be supervised by me.
The goal of my research program is to elucidate the fundamental nature and astronomical consequences of astrophysical black holes. I do this via a number of independent projects, spanning scales from the horizon to the universe, each of which are connected by the critical role played by the extreme physical conditions near black hole horizons. My current focus is the interpretation and analysis of horizon-resolving millimeter wave observations of the supermassive black holes at the centers of the Milky Way and M87. These observations provide unprecedented access to the immediate vicinity of the horizon, and therefore to the effects of strong gravity near black holes. Hence they provide an ideal opportunity to probe both the high-energy astrophysics powering some of the most energetic phenomena in the universe and test the validity of general relativity in the strongly non-linear limit. This work involves developing both the models and the analysis techniques, often combining the high-resolution radio data with additional observations in multiple wavebands, to extract answers to the physically relevant questions. In addition, I am also very involved with a number of efforts to assess the impact of black holes on cosmological scales. These efforts bring a wide variety of astrophysical areas together, ranging from studying the most extreme plasmas in the universe to the cosmological thermodynamic history and its impact on the growth of structures.
  • Associate Professor, Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, 2011-present
  • Senior Research Associate, Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, 2007-2011
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute for Theory and Computation, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Institute for Theory and Computation, 2004-2007
  • 2021 Group Award (A), Royal Astronomical Society, 2021
  • Excellence in Science Research Award, University of Waterloo, 2021
  • Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, Breakthrough Prize Foundation, 2020
  • 2020 Bruno Rossi Prize, American Astronomical Society, 2020
  • 2020 Einstein Medal, Albert Einstein Society, 2020
  • 2020 Nelson P. Jackson Aerospace Award, National Space Club and Foundation, 2020
  • 2019 American Ingenuity Award in Physical Sciences, Smithsonian Institution, 2019
  • 2019 Diamond Achievement Award, National Science Foundation, 2019
  • Accelerator Grant, "Resolving Black Holes: Black Hole Astrophysics in the Era of the Event Horizon Telescope", Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), 2017-2020
  • Discovery Grant, "Resolving Black Holes: Black Hole Astrophysics in the Era of the Event Horizon Telescope", Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), 2017-2023
  • Beatrics D. Tremaine Fellow, Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, 2011
  • Paraschos, G. F., Kim, J. -Y., Wielgus, M., Röder, J., Krichbaum, T. P., Ros, E., . . . Zhao, S. -S. (2024). Ordered magnetic fields around the 3C 84 central black hole. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 682, l3. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202348308
  • Wang, Z., & Broderick, A. E. (2024). Constraining the Existence of Axion Clouds in M87* with Closure Trace Analyses. The Astrophysical Journal, 962(2), 121. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ad13f4
  • Akiyama, K., Alberdi, A., Alef, W., Algaba, J. C., Anantua, R., Asada, K., . . . Yu, C. -Y. (2024). The persistent shadow of the supermassive black hole of M 87. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 681, a79. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202347932
  • Ayzenberg, D., Blackburn, L., Brito, R., Britzen, S., Broderick, A. E., Carballo-Rubio, R., . . . Younsi, Z. (2023). Fundamental Physics Opportunities with the Next-Generation Event Horizon Telescope. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2312.02130
  • Torne, P., Liu, K., Eatough, R. P., Wongphechauxsorn, J., Cordes, J. M., Desvignes, G., . . . Zhao, S. -S. (2023). A Search for Pulsars around Sgr A* in the First Event Horizon Telescope Data Set. The Astrophysical Journal, 959(1), 14. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/acf4f2
  • Broderick, A. E., Salehi, K., & Georgiev, B. (2023). Shadow Implications: What Does Measuring the Photon Ring Imply for Gravity?. The Astrophysical Journal, 958(2), 114. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/acf9f6
  • Wang, Z., & Broderick, A. E. (2023). Constraining the Existence of Axion Clouds in M87* with Closure Trace Analyses. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2311.01565
  • Salehi, K., Broderick, A., & Georgiev, B. (2023). Photon Rings and Shadow Size for General Integrable Spacetimes. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2311.01495
  • Collaboration, T. E. H. T., Akiyama, K., Alberdi, A., Alef, W., Algaba, J. C., Anantua, R., . . . Zhao, S. -S. (2023). First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. IX. Detection of Near-horizon Circular Polarization. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 957(2), l20. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/acff70
  • Roelofs, F., Johnson, M. D., Chael, A., Janssen, M., Wielgus, M., Broderick, A. E., . . . Zhao, S. -S. (2023). Polarimetric Geometric Modeling for mm-VLBI Observations of Black Holes. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 957(2), l21. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/acff6f
  • Doeleman, S. S., Barrett, J., Blackburn, L., Bouman, K. L., Broderick, A. E., Chaves, R., . . . Wielgus, M. (n.d.). Reference Array and Design Consideration for the Next-Generation Event Horizon Telescope. Galaxies, 11(5), 107. doi:10.3390/galaxies11050107
  • Emami, R., Doeleman, S. S., Wielgus, M., Chang, D., Chatterjee, K., Smith, R., . . . Roelofs, F. (2023). The EB Correlation in Resolved Polarized Images: Connections to the Astrophysics of Black Holes. The Astrophysical Journal, 955(1), 6. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/acdc96
  • Torne, P., Liu, K., Eatough, R. P., Wongphechauxsorn, J., Cordes, J. M., Desvignes, G., . . . Zhao, S. -S. (2023). A search for pulsars around Sgr A* in the first Event Horizon Telescope dataset. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2308.15381
  • Johnson, M. D., Doeleman, S. S., Gómez, J. L., & Broderick, A. E. (n.d.). From Vision to Instrument: Creating a Next-Generation Event Horizon Telescope for a New Era of Black Hole Science. Galaxies, 11(5), 92. doi:10.3390/galaxies11050092
  • Broderick, A. E., Salehi, K., & Georgiev, B. (2023). Shadow Implications: What does measuring the photon ring imply for gravity?. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2307.15120
  • Conroy, N. S., Bauböck, M., Dhruv, V., Lee, D., Broderick, A. E., Chan, C. -K., . . . Gammie, C. F. (2023). Rotation in Event Horizon Telescope Movies. The Astrophysical Journal, 951(1), 46. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/acd2c8
  • Doeleman, S. S., Barrett, J., Blackburn, L., Bouman, K., Broderick, A. E., Chaves, R., . . . Wielgus, M. (2023). Reference Array and Design Consideration for the next-generation Event Horizon Telescope. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2306.08787
  • Prather, B. S., Dexter, J., Moscibrodzka, M., Pu, H. -Y., Bronzwaer, T., Davelaar, J., . . . Collaboration, T. E. H. T. (2023). Comparison of Polarized Radiative Transfer Codes Used by the EHT Collaboration. The Astrophysical Journal, 950(1), 35. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/acc586
  • Emami, R., Ricarte, A., Wong, G. N., Palumbo, D., Chang, D., Doeleman, S. S., . . . Roelofs, F. (2023). Unraveling Twisty Linear Polarization Morphologies in Black Hole Images. The Astrophysical Journal, 950(1), 38. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/acc8cd
  • Emami, R., Doeleman, S. S., Wielgus, M., Chang, D., Chatterjee, K., Smith, R., . . . Roelofs, F. (2023). The EB-correlation in Resolved Polarized Images: Connections to Astrophysics of Black Holes. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2305.00387
  • Lu, R. -S., Asada, K., Krichbaum, T. P., Park, J., Tazaki, F., Pu, H. -Y., . . . Yu, C. -Y. (2023). A ring-like accretion structure in M87 connecting its black hole and jet. Nature, 616(7958), 686-690. doi:10.1038/s41586-023-05843-w
  • Johnson, M. D., Akiyama, K., Blackburn, L., Bouman, K. L., Broderick, A. E., Cardoso, V., . . . Wielgus, M. (n.d.). Key Science Goals for the Next-Generation Event Horizon Telescope. Galaxies, 11(3), 61. doi:10.3390/galaxies11030061
  • Jorstad, S., Wielgus, M., Lico, R., Issaoun, S., Broderick, A. E., Pesce, D. W., . . . Zhao, S. -S. (2023). The Event Horizon Telescope Image of the Quasar NRAO 530. The Astrophysical Journal, 943(2), 170. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/acaea8
  • Emami, R., Tiede, P., Doeleman, S. S., Roelofs, F., Wielgus, M., Blackburn, L., . . . Vogelsberger, M. (n.d.). Tracing Hot Spot Motion in Sagittarius A* Using the Next-Generation Event Horizon Telescope (ngEHT). Galaxies, 11(1), 23. doi:10.3390/galaxies11010023
  • Emami, R., Anantua, R., Ricarte, A., Doeleman, S. S., Broderick, A., Wong, G., . . . Kramer, J. A. (n.d.). Probing Plasma Composition with the Next Generation Event Horizon Telescope (ngEHT). Galaxies, 11(1), 11. doi:10.3390/galaxies11010011
  • Anantua, R., Dúran, J., Ngata, N., Oramas, L., Röder, J., Emami, R., . . . Durodola, E. (n.d.). Emission Modeling in the EHT–ngEHT Age. Galaxies, 11(1), 4. doi:10.3390/galaxies11010004
  • Pesce, D. W., Palumbo, D. C. M., Ricarte, A., Broderick, A. E., Johnson, M. D., Nagar, N. M., . . . Gómez, J. L. (n.d.). Expectations for Horizon-Scale Supermassive Black Hole Population Studies with the ngEHT. Galaxies, 10(6), 109. doi:10.3390/galaxies10060109
  • Tiede, P., Broderick, A. E., Palumbo, D. C. M., & Chael, A. (2022). Measuring the Ellipticity of M87* Images. The Astrophysical Journal, 940(2), 182. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac9cd2
  • Pesce, D. W., Palumbo, D. C. M., Ricarte, A., Broderick, A. E., Johnson, M. D., Nagar, N. M., . . . Gomez, J. L. (2022). Expectations for Horizon-Scale Supermassive Black Hole Population Studies with the ngEHT. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2212.00779
  • Ni, C., Broderick, A. E., & Gold, R. (2022). Probing Accretion Turbulence in the Galactic Center with EHT Polarimetry. The Astrophysical Journal, 940(2), 149. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac9b47
  • Emami, R., Anantua, R., Ricarte, A., Doeleman, S. S., Broderick, A., Wong, G., . . . Kramer, J. A. (2022). Probing plasma composition with the next generation Event Horizon Telescope (ngEHT). doi:10.48550/arxiv.2211.07306
  • Emami, R., Tiede, P., Doeleman, S. S., Roelofs, F., Wielgus, M., Blackburn, L., . . . Vogelsberger, M. (2022). Tracing the hot spot motion using the next generation Event Horizon Telescope (ngEHT). doi:10.48550/arxiv.2211.06773
  • Anantua, R., Dúran, J., Ngata, N., Oramas, L., Emami, R., Ricarte, A., . . . Ressler, S. (2022). Emission Modeling in the EHT-ngEHT Age. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2211.06541
  • Broderick, A. E., Pesce, D. W., Gold, R., Tiede, P., Pu, H. -Y., Anantua, R., . . . Zhang, S. (2022). The Photon Ring in M87*. The Astrophysical Journal, 935(1), 61. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac7c1d
  • Issaoun, S., Wielgus, M., Jorstad, S., Krichbaum, T. P., Blackburn, L., Janssen, M., . . . Zhao, S. -S. (2022). Resolving the Inner Parsec of the Blazar J1924–2914 with the Event Horizon Telescope. The Astrophysical Journal, 934(2), 145. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac7a40
  • Collaboration, E. H. T., Akiyama, K., Alberdi, A., Alef, W., Algaba, J. C., Anantua, R., . . . Zhao, S. -S. (2022). First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. VI. Testing the Black Hole Metric. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 930(2), l17. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ac6756
  • Collaboration, E. H. T., Akiyama, K., Alberdi, A., Alef, W., Algaba, J. C., Anantua, R., . . . Chang, D. O. (2022). First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. IV. Variability, Morphology, and Black Hole Mass. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 930(2), l15. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ac6736
  • Collaboration, E. H. T., Akiyama, K., Alberdi, A., Alef, W., Algaba, J. C., Anantua, R., . . . Wouterloot, J. G. A. (2022). First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. II. EHT and Multiwavelength Observations, Data Processing, and Calibration. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 930(2), l13. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ac6675
  • Collaboration, E. H. T., Akiyama, K., Alberdi, A., Alef, W., Algaba, J. C., Anantua, R., . . . Zeballos, M. (2022). First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. I. The Shadow of the Supermassive Black Hole in the Center of the Milky Way. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 930(2), l12. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ac6674
  • Collaboration, E. H. T., Akiyama, K., Alberdi, A., Alef, W., Algaba, J. C., Anantua, R., . . . White, C. (2022). First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. V. Testing Astrophysical Models of the Galactic Center Black Hole. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 930(2), l16. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ac6672
  • Farah, J., Galison, P., Akiyama, K., Bouman, K. L., Bower, G. C., Chael, A., . . . Zhao, S. -S. (2022). Selective Dynamical Imaging of Interferometric Data. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 930(2), l18. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ac6615
  • Broderick, A. E., Gold, R., Georgiev, B., Pesce, D. W., Tiede, P., Ni, C., . . . Zhao, S. -S. (2022). Characterizing and Mitigating Intraday Variability: Reconstructing Source Structure in Accreting Black Holes with mm-VLBI. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 930(2), l21. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ac6584
  • Collaboration, E. H. T., Akiyama, K., Alberdi, A., Alef, W., Algaba, J. C., Anantua, R., . . . Zhao, S. -S. (2022). First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. III. Imaging of the Galactic Center Supermassive Black Hole. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 930(2), l14. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ac6429
  • Wielgus, M., Marchili, N., Martí-Vidal, I., Keating, G. K., Ramakrishnan, V., Tiede, P., . . . Zhao, S. -S. (2022). Millimeter Light Curves of Sagittarius A* Observed during the 2017 Event Horizon Telescope Campaign. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 930(2), l19. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ac6428
  • Georgiev, B., Pesce, D. W., Broderick, A. E., Wong, G. N., Dhruv, V., Wielgus, M., . . . Zhao, S. -S. (2022). A Universal Power-law Prescription for Variability from Synthetic Images of Black Hole Accretion Flows. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 930(2), l20. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ac65eb
  • Lamberts, A., Puchwein, E., Pfrommer, C., Chang, P., Shalaby, M., Broderick, A., . . . Rudie, G. (2022). Constraining blazar heating with the 2 ? z ? 3 Lyman-a forest. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 512(2), 3045-3059. doi:10.1093/mnras/stac553
  • Broderick, A. E., Tiede, P., Pesce, D. W., & Gold, R. (2022). Measuring Spin from Relative Photon-ring Sizes. The Astrophysical Journal, 927(1), 6. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac4970
  • Tiede, P., Broderick, A. E., & Palumbo, D. C. M. (2022). Variational Image Feature Extraction for the Event Horizon Telescope. The Astrophysical Journal, 925(2), 122. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac3a6b
  • Satapathy, K., Psaltis, D., Özel, F., Medeiros, L., Dougall, S. T., Chan, C. -K., . . . Zhao, S. -S. (2022). The Variability of the Black Hole Image in M87 at the Dynamical Timescale. The Astrophysical Journal, 925(1), 13. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac332e
  • Janssen, M., Falcke, H., Kadler, M., Ros, E., Wielgus, M., Akiyama, K., . . . Zhao, S. -S. (2021). Event Horizon Telescope observations of the jet launching and collimation in Centaurus A. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2111.03356
  • Völkel, S. H., Barausse, E., Franchini, N., & Broderick, A. E. (2021). EHT tests of the strong-field regime of general relativity. Classical and Quantum Gravity, 38(21), 21lt01. doi:10.1088/1361-6382/ac27ed
  • Issaoun, S., Johnson, M. D., Blackburn, L., Broderick, A., Tiede, P., Wielgus, M., . . . Wagner, J. (2021). Persistent Non-Gaussian Structure in the Image of Sagittarius A* at 86 GHz. The Astrophysical Journal, 915(2), 99. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac00b0
  • Kocherlakota, P., Rezzolla, L., Falcke, H., Fromm, C. M., Kramer, M., Mizuno, Y., . . . Zhao, S. -S. (2021). Constraints on black-hole charges with the 2017 EHT observations of M87*. Physical Review D, 103(10), 104047. doi:10.1103/physrevd.103.104047
  • Narayan, R., Palumbo, D. C. M., Johnson, M. D., Gelles, Z., Himwich, E., Chang, D. O., . . . Zhao, S. -S. (2021). The Polarized Image of a Synchrotron-emitting Ring of Gas Orbiting a Black Hole. The Astrophysical Journal, 912(1), 35. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/abf117
  • Group, T. E. M. S. W., Algaba, J. C., Anczarski, J., Asada, K., Balokovic, M., Chandra, S., . . . Yonekura, Y. (2021). Broadband Multi-wavelength Properties of M87 during the 2017 Event Horizon Telescope Campaign. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 911(1), l11. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/abef71
  • Goddi, C., Martí-Vidal, I., Messias, H., Bower, G. C., Broderick, A. E., Dexter, J., . . . Valtonen, M. (2021). Polarimetric Properties of Event Horizon Telescope Targets from ALMA. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 910(1), l14. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/abee6a
  • Akiyama, K., Algaba, J. C., Alberdi, A., Alef, W., Anantua, R., Asada, K., . . . Zhao, S. -S. (2021). First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. VII. Polarization of the Ring. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 910(1), l12. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/abe71d
  • Akiyama, K., Algaba, J. C., Alberdi, A., Alef, W., Anantua, R., Asada, K., . . . Zhao, S. -S. (2021). First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. VIII. Magnetic Field Structure near The Event Horizon. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 910(1), l13. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/abe4de
  • Jeter, B., & Broderick, A. E. (2021). Reconciling EHT and Gas-dynamics Measurements in M87: Is the Jet Misaligned at Parsec Scales?. The Astrophysical Journal, 908(2), 139. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/abda3d
  • Resolving Sgr A*, Astrophysics in the Next Decade: From the First Stars to Intelligent Life, Martha's Vineyard, 2022/06/07
  • A View of the Black Hole at the Heart of the Milky Way, CASCA 2022, Waterloo, virtual, 2022/05/20
  • 86 GHz science opportunities, Broadening Horizons: Exploring Multi-Band Capabilities for the ngEHT, Cambridge, MA, 2022/01/01
  • Beyond the one ring: Detecting and Interpreting Photons Rings in M87, National Radio Science Meeting 2022: Beyond the EHT, Boulder, CO, virtual, 2022/01/01
  • Measuring Mass and Spin with Low-order Photon Rings, EHT Collaboration Meeting, Granada, 2022/01/01
  • From Visibilities to Gravity, Assembling the ngEHT: Community-Driven Science to a Global Instrument, Granada, 2022/01/01