Sensitivities of Black Hole Images from GRMHD Simulations

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Motta, Pedro Naethe, Neto, Mário Raia, Prather, Cora, Cárdenas-Avendaño, Alejandro
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
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author Motta, Pedro Naethe
Neto, Mário Raia
Prather, Cora
Cárdenas-Avendaño, Alejandro
author_facet Motta, Pedro Naethe
Neto, Mário Raia
Prather, Cora
Cárdenas-Avendaño, Alejandro
contents The advent of high-fidelity imaging of supermassive black holes calls for efficient and robust data-analysis methods. In this work, we use $\texttt{Jipole}$, a differentiable, $\texttt{ipole}$-based radiative transfer code, to enable gradient-based analyses of images generated from state-of-the-art general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations. We compute image sensitivities, i.e., pixel-wise derivatives of the intensity with respect to model parameters, which form the Jacobian of the forward model and define a local map from parameter space to image space. Using these sensitivities in a mock data analysis, we find that GRMHD-based images generate a structured error landscape for parameter fitting, with anisotropies and local minima, making parameter exploration nontrivial but still tractable when guided by gradient information. We characterize this landscape through the Jacobian and assess the feasibility of gradient-based recovery under idealized, blurred, and noisy conditions. Our results show that automatic differentiation-computed image gradients can guide parameter exploration effectively even in the presence of noise. These findings establish a basis for efficient, high-precision model--data comparisons in black hole imaging and motivate the integration of these sensitivities into advanced inference frameworks.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_11869
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Sensitivities of Black Hole Images from GRMHD Simulations
Motta, Pedro Naethe
Neto, Mário Raia
Prather, Cora
Cárdenas-Avendaño, Alejandro
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
The advent of high-fidelity imaging of supermassive black holes calls for efficient and robust data-analysis methods. In this work, we use $\texttt{Jipole}$, a differentiable, $\texttt{ipole}$-based radiative transfer code, to enable gradient-based analyses of images generated from state-of-the-art general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations. We compute image sensitivities, i.e., pixel-wise derivatives of the intensity with respect to model parameters, which form the Jacobian of the forward model and define a local map from parameter space to image space. Using these sensitivities in a mock data analysis, we find that GRMHD-based images generate a structured error landscape for parameter fitting, with anisotropies and local minima, making parameter exploration nontrivial but still tractable when guided by gradient information. We characterize this landscape through the Jacobian and assess the feasibility of gradient-based recovery under idealized, blurred, and noisy conditions. Our results show that automatic differentiation-computed image gradients can guide parameter exploration effectively even in the presence of noise. These findings establish a basis for efficient, high-precision model--data comparisons in black hole imaging and motivate the integration of these sensitivities into advanced inference frameworks.
title Sensitivities of Black Hole Images from GRMHD Simulations
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.11869