Is the EHT black hole experiment a new experiment in the guise of an old experiment?

• Published in: Studies in history and philosophy of science. Part A Vol. 88; pp. 41 - 49
• Main Author: Weinstein, Galina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2021; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Black hole image; Black holes; Collaboration; Elliptical galaxies; Event horizon; Event horizon telescope; Experiments; General relativity; Gravitational waves; Hypotheses; Inference to the best explanation; Philosophy of experimentation; Rotation; Stars & galaxies; Supermassive black holes; Event horizon telescope; Inference to the best explanation; Philosophy of experimentation; General relativity; Black hole image
• ISSN: 0039-3681; 1879-2510
• DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2021.05.002

This paper analyzes the experiment presented in 2019 by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration that unveiled the first image of the supermassive black hole at the center of galaxy M87. The intended aim of the paper is to assess whether the EHT Collaboration has made an “inference to the best explanation” (IBE) to conclude that the data effectively confirm the hypothesis that the object at the center of M87 is in fact a supermassive Kerr rotating black hole. I demonstrate that the EHT Collaboration has applied an IBE. It is shown that the hypothesis that at the center of M87 there is a supermassive Kerr rotating black hole was already the best explanation at the time in which the 2017 EHT experiment was conducted. My analysis is intertwined with considerations on realist and empiricist interpretations of IBE, which are used to assess whether the conclusion that the object at the center of M87 is a Kerr rotating black hole implies holding a realist commitment with respect to such object. •The data collected in the 2017 EHT experiment is subject to the methodology of IBE.•The 2017 EHT data tends to confirm, each time, the Kerr black hole hypothesis.•Are the models that assume a Kerr black hole and provide the best explanation in fact true.•GRMHD models that assume a Kerr black hole and alternative hypotheses.•Fitting GRMHD models to 2017 EHT data and gaining information from the collected data.