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# Accretion onto the Supermassive Black Hole in M87

## 1 Introduction

The nucleus of M87 (NGC 4486) contains a black hole of mass $`M3\times 10^9M_{}`$ directly determined from HST observations (Ford et al. 1995; Harms et al. 1995; Macchetto et al. 1997). It is a nearby active nucleus with a one sided jet and large-scale radio structure. However, the activity displayed by its nucleus is far less than what is predicted if the central black hole were accreting mass from its hot interstellar medium (with a standard radiative efficiency of $`10`$ per cent; see e.g. Fabian & Rees 1995; Reynolds et al. 1996; Di Matteo et al. 2000). M87 is probably the most illustrative case of a low-luminosity system otherwise common in nearby galaxies known to contain supermassive black holes (e.g, Magorrian et al. 1998; Ferrarese & Merritt 2000).

There are two possible explanations for the low luminosities of nearby black holes: (a) the accretion occurs at extremely low rates or (b) the accretion occurs at low radiative efficiencies as predicted, for example, by advection dominated accretion flow models (ADAFs; e.g. Rees et al. 1982; Narayan & Yi 1994,1995; Abramowicz et al. 1995 but see also inflow-outflow models; e.g. Blandford & Begelmann 1999; Stone et al. 1999; or CDAFs; e.g. Quataert & Gruzinov 2002). In order to discriminate between these two possibilities, it is necessary to determine both the accretion rates and the nuclear luminosities precisely. Direct measurement of the latter and evaluation of the former has not been possible with previous X-ray satellites. Here, we show that, for the nucleus of M87, both can now be achieved with Chandra.

The massive black holes at the center of elliptical galaxies are likely to accrete primarily from the surrounding hot, quasi-spherical ISM. Accretion rates can therefore be simply estimated using Bondi accretion theory. This requires accurate measurements of both the density and temperature of the hot, X-ray emitting ISM at the ’Bondi accretion radius’, the radius at which the gravitational potential of the central black hole begins to dominate the dynamics of the hot gas and the gas starts to fall into the black hole.

Thanks to its high spatial resolution and sensitivity, the Chandra X-ray Observatory is able to provide some of the most stringent constraints on the properties of low-luminosity black holes. In particular, at the distance of M87 (18 Mpc), the spatial resolution of Chandra corresponds to a radius of less than a hundred parsec or, equivalently, a few $`10^5`$ Schwarzschild radii. For M87, this allows us to measure, for the first time, fundamental properties of the ISM at the accretion radius of the black hole, and thereby estimate the mass supply into the accretion flow.

## 2 Gas properties at the black hole accretion radius

### 2.1 Central temperature and density

Details of the Chandra observations and observing strategy are presented by Wilson & Yang (2002). In brief, M87 was observed twice with Chandra, on 2000 July 29 and 2000 July 30. Both observations were carried out using the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) and back-illuminated S3 detector. The first observation was made in a full-frame mode with a 3.2 frame time. The net exposure time, after removing periods associated with small background flares, was 33.7ks. These data have been used to study the properties of the diffuse X-ray gas in M87. The second, shorter observation was made in a reduced 1/8 sub-array mode with a frame time of 0.4s. The use of this mode avoids problems associated with pile-up in the data for the brightest knots of the jet and the central AGN (Wilson & Yang 2002). The exposure time for the second observation was 12.8ks. High resolution Chandra images and detailed analyses of the jet and cluster properties are presented by Wilson & Yang (2002) and Young, Wilson & Mundell (2002), respectively.

Spectra were extracted from five circular annuli centered on the nucleus (Figure 1). The data for the innermost region, which has a radius of 4 detector pixels (approximately 2 arcsec or 0.2 kpc at the distance of the source), were extracted from the shorter 12.8 ks data set. The emission from this region is dominated by the central AGN. The data for the four outer annuli (covering radii of 0.2-1, 1-4, 4-8 and 8-12 kpc, respectively) were extracted from the longer, full-frame observation. The spectra were grouped to contain a minimum of 20 counts per pulse invariant channel, allowing $`\chi ^2`$ statistics to be used. Background spectra were extracted from the blank-field data sets provided by the Chandra X-ray Center. Separate photon-weighted response matrices and effective area files were constructed for each region using the appropriate ACIS-S calibration and response files. We have used the ACISABS model in XSPEC to account for the time varying molecular contamination of the ACIS optical blocking filters.

The spectra have been analyzed using the XSPEC code (version 11.2.01; Arnaud 1996) and following the deprojection method described by Allen et al. (2001). We assume that the diffuse X-ray gas in each of the spherical shells, defined by the annuli mentioned above, is isothermal and can be described by a vmekal model (Kaastra & Mewe 1993; incorporating the Fe L calculations of Liedhal, Osterheld & Goldstein 1995) with the abundances of O, Mg, Si, S and Fe included as independent free fit parameters. The fit to the outermost annulus is used to determine the temperature, emission measure and abundances of the ISM in the outermost spherical shell. The contribution from that shell to each inner annulus is then determined by purely geometric factors. The fit to the second annulus is used to determine the parameters for the second spherical shell, and so forth, working inwards. For the central 2 arcsec region, we have included an additional power-law component to model the emission from the AGN (see Section 3). We assume that the intrinsic spectrum of the ISM in this region is the same as in the next annulus out. The emission from all annuli is assumed to be absorbed by a column density, $`N_\mathrm{H}`$, of cold gas, which is a single, additional free parameter in the fits. The emission from the brightest knots of the jet and all other point sources were masked out and excluded from the analysis.

The deprojected temperature profile of the X-ray gas, determined from a simultaneous fit to the five annular regions, is shown by the solid points in Figure 2. The deprojected temperature decreases from $`kT=1.83\pm 0.01`$ keV at $`r=10`$ kpc to $`kT=0.80\pm 0.01`$ keV within the central kpc ($`1\sigma `$ errors). The total $`\chi ^2`$ for the deprojected fit of 3171 for 1271 degrees of freedom indicates that the simple, spherically-symmetric model provides an incomplete description of the Chandra data, which is unsurprising given the structural complexities evident in Fig. 1 (see also Wilson & Yang 2002 and Young et al. 2002). Nevertheless, the temperature measurements should provide a reasonable description of the mean, emission-weighted properties in each spherical shell (although the uncertainties may be underestimated by a factor $`2`$). We note that the temperature measurement for the $`0.21`$ kpc annulus is not affected significantly by flux from the central AGN, scattered outwards in the wings of the point spread function. In order to test this we carried out simulations in XSPEC, using our deprojected model, in which we added a power-law component to the model for the first annulus out (0.2-1kpc), with a strength calculated according to the observed nuclear flux and PSF models in the Chandra handbook. We find that the flux in the wings of the PSF has no significant effect on the best-fit parameters for the 0.2-1kpc annulus. To be conservative, we then doubled the strength in the wings and still found no significant change in the best-fit parameters, indicating that our results are robust against this effect.

Figure 2 also shows the importance of deprojecting the X-ray data when determining the central gas temperature (and hence the density profile). Without deprojection, we would infer a spuriously high temperature of $`kT=1.16\pm 0.01`$ keV for the $`0.21.0`$ kpc region, which would impinge on the calculations of the accretion rate in Section 2.2. Note that deprojecting also improves the total $`\chi ^2`$ for the fit by 410 compared with a direct analysis of the projected spectra, without including additional free parameters in the fit.

The electron density profile for the X-ray gas, shown in Figure 2, was derived by deprojecting the surface brightness profile, given the deprojected temperature profile. At radii larger than a few kpc the density profile follows $`\rho r^1`$. Within the central $`2`$ kpc, the density profile flattens: fitting a constant value to the central two annuli we obtain $`n_e=0.170\pm 0.003`$ cm-3 (or $`n_e=0.163\pm 0.007`$ cm-3 for the innermost annulus).

### 2.2 $`\dot{M}`$

We can estimate the accretion rate from the ISM onto the central black hole using Bondi accretion theory; the nuclear accretion rate will thus be determined by the density and temperature of the hot gas at the point where the influence of the black hole becomes dominant. In the standard adiabatic problem (see Appendix A with $`H=0`$ for the exact Bondi results), the Bondi (accretion) solution implies the sphere of influence of the black hole extends out to the gravitational capture radius (see also e.g.; Di Matteo et al. 1999; Quataert & Narayan 2000; Nulsen & Fabian 2000):

$$r_Ab\frac{GM}{c_s^2}=0.05T_{0.8}^1M_9\text{kpc}5\times 10^5r_{\mathrm{Sch}}.$$
(1)
Here $`M_9=10^9M_{}`$ is the mass of the black hole ($`M_9=3`$), $`T_{0.8}=T/0.8\mathrm{keV}`$ is the temperature in keV(cf. Figure 2), $`c`$ is the speed of light, $`c_\mathrm{s}2.7\times 10^7T_{0.8}^{1/2}`$ cm s-1 is the sound speed (where $`T`$ is the ISM gas temperature) and $`r_{\mathrm{Sch}}=2GM/c^2`$ is the Schwarzschild radius of the black hole. The parameter $`b`$ depends on the detailed physics close to the accretion radius (including $`\gamma `$). We initially take $`b1`$, for which our definition of $`r_A`$ corresponds to $`2r_s`$, the sonic radius of the black hole, and discuss this further in §5.1 and in the Appendix. Note that, depending on the definition one chooses, $`r_A`$ lies approximately at $`0.52GM/c_s^2`$. $`r_A>0.2GM/c_s^2`$ is resolved by Chandra.

Equation 1 shows that the accretion radius of M87 (for an assumed distance of 18 Mpc) corresponds to an angular scale of 2 arcsec. Thus, using Chandra, we are able to measure the properties of the gas at approximately the black hole accretion radius for M87. We note that the ionized disk of gas seen by HST (Harms et al. 1994) has been measured from 0.25 arcsec to about 2 arcsec from the nucleus, close to the Bondi radius of M87. HST, thus may have imaged the accretion flow in the optical I-band.

The accretion rate is related to the density and temperature at the accretion radius by the continuity equation:

$$\dot{M}_{\mathrm{Bondi}}=4\pi r_\mathrm{A}^2\rho _\mathrm{A}c_\mathrm{s}(r_\mathrm{A}),$$
(2)
where $`\rho _\mathrm{A}`$ and $`c_\mathrm{s}(r_\mathrm{A})`$ are the density and sound speed at the sonic radius. With the density and temperature measured directly at the accretion radius (Section 2.1), the Bondi accretion rate to M87 is given by

$`\dot{M}_{\mathrm{Bondi}}`$ $`=`$ $`7\times 10^{23}M_9^2T_{0.8}^{3/2}n_{0.17}\mathrm{gs}^1`$ (3)
$`0.1\mathrm{M}_{}\mathrm{yr}^1.`$
where $`n_{0.17}=n/0.17`$ cm-3. Eqn. (3) provides the accretion rate at the outer edge of the accretion flow. As discussed in Section 5, the mass accretion rate onto the black hole may be smaller if e.g. it decreases with radius because of an outflow (cf. Blandford & Begelman 1999).

The Bondi accretion rate (Eq. 3) implies a luminosity

$$L_{\mathrm{Bondi}}=\eta \dot{M}_{\mathrm{Bondi}}c^25\times 10^{44}\text{erg s}\text{-1}$$
(4)
if $`\eta =0.1`$, as in a standard, radiatively efficient thin disk.

## 3 The X-ray Luminosity

The properties of the central AGN have been determined using the data for the central 2 arcsec (4 pixels) radius region after accounting for the emission from diffuse X-ray gas viewed in projection against the nucleus (see §2.1). We find that the central point source can be described by a power law model with a photon index $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=2.23\pm 0.04`$ and a flux density at 1 keV of $`(8.0\pm 0.2)\times 10^{13}`$ erg cm-2 s-1 keV-1 (1$`\sigma `$ errors). We find no evidence for excess absorption associated with the central AGN ($`\mathrm{\Delta }N_\mathrm{H}<3.2\times 10^{20}`$atom cm-2 at 3$`\sigma `$ confidence), over and above the mean value measured across the central 12 kpc radius region. We note that the mean absorbing column density measured across the central 12 kpc of $`N_\mathrm{H}=1.97\pm 0.12\times 10^{20}`$atom cm-2 is slightly lower than the nominal Galactic value of $`2.5\times 10^{20}`$atom cm-2 determined from the HI studies of Dickey & Lockman (1990). This deficit may reflect residual systematic uncertainties in the effective area of the instrument at low energies. Our results on the central AGN are in averall agreement with those of Wilson & Yang (2002; although these authors find a higher absorbing column density for the nucleus than the jet knots). Our measured photon index is slightly lower than the value of Marshall et al. (2001). (Note that our analysis differs from that of Wilson & Yang in that we account for the emission from diffuse X-ray gas viewed in projection against the nucleus.)

The observed nuclear luminosity is more than four orders of magnitude smaller than the predicted Bondi luminosity, implying (unless the Bondi estimate is inappropriate) that the radiative efficiency $`\eta 10^5`$. In the next section, we examine the predictions of hot accretion flow models with low radiative efficiencies.

## 4 Accretion models

A hot accretion flow around a supermassive black hole will radiate in the radio to X–ray bands. In the radio band, the emission results from synchrotron radiation. At higher energies, and up to the X-ray band, the emission is produced by bremsstrahlung processes and inverse Compton scattering of the soft synchrotron photons (e.g. Narayan, Barret & McClintock 1998).

In this Section, radii in the flow are written in Schwarzschild units: $`r=ar_{\mathrm{Sch}}`$. We write black hole masses in solar units and accretion rates in Eddington units: $`M_{\mathrm{BH}}=mM_{}`$ and $`\dot{M}=\dot{m}\dot{M}_{\mathrm{Edd}}`$. We take $`\dot{M}_{\mathrm{Edd}}=10L_{\mathrm{Edd}}/c^2=2.2\times 10^8mM_{}`$ yr-1, i.e., with a canonical 10% efficiency. We take $`a=10^4`$ to be the outer radius of the flow. The Bondi accretion rate for M87 in these units is $`\dot{m}_{\mathrm{Bondi}}=1.6\times 10^3`$.

The predicted spectrum from an ADAF depends (weakly) on the ratio of the gas to magnetic pressure $`\beta `$, the viscosity parameter $`\alpha `$, and the fraction of the turbulent energy in the plasma which heats the electrons, $`\delta `$. Here, we fix $`\alpha =0.1`$, $`\beta =10`$, and take $`\delta =0.3`$ or $`0.01`$. The two major parameters, though, are the accretion rate $`\dot{M}`$ and the black hole mass $`M`$, both of which are constrained. With $`M`$ given for M87, we normalize the models to the observed Chandra flux. This gives us the $`\dot{m}`$ required by the models to explain the X-ray emission. A model is ruled out if it requires $`\dot{m}<<\dot{m}_{\mathrm{Bondi}}`$ to account for the observed luminosity or, equivalently, if we take $`\dot{m}=\dot{m}_{\mathrm{Bondi}}`$ and the models predict a higher luminosity than is observed.

The solid dots in Figure 3 are the high resolution VLBI, HST, Gemini, Keck (at 10$`\mu m`$) and Chandra high resolution measurements of the nuclear flux in the radio, optical, mid-infrared and X-ray bands, respectively. The open dots show the lower resolution VLA radio measurements which are likely to include a more significant contribution from the jet. The solid line shows the predicted spectrum for a pure inflow ADAF model adjusted to roughly match the 1 keV Chandra flux. In this model $`\dot{m}=6\times 10^4`$, (with $`\delta =0.3`$) which is consistent with the Bondi estimate (i.e. within the model uncertainties, which should be taken to be $`50`$%). A model with $`\delta =0.01`$ and a corresponding $`\dot{m}=10^3`$ is shown by the dotted line. The required accretion rates are always large enough for Comptonization of the synchrotron emission to dominate the X-ray emission in these models (where the scattering optical depth in an ADAF is $`\dot{m}`$; see e.g., Narayan et al. 1998). The exact positions of the Comptonization bumps in the optical and X-ray bands are a function of temperature and, therefore, $`\delta `$. Models with higher values of electron heating, which are also preferred from a theoretical point of view, agree better with the measured 2–10 keV spectral slope of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }2.2`$. Note that, as shown in Figure 3, the agreement with the observed spectrum is obtained only if the Compton bumps are pronounced, i.e. the agreement depends upon the details of the model.

Marshall et al. (2002) and Wilson & Yang (2002) have shown that the spectrum of the innermost jet knots observed by Chandra are consistent with that of the nucleus, possibly implying a similar origin. It is indeed plausible that a large fraction of the observed nuclear X-ray flux might be due to emission from the base of the jet111Note that it is not possible to put strong constraints on the nuclear variability from these two observations because of the different apertures considered in the published nuclear measurements. However, there does not seem be evidence for substantial variability. Evidence for such variability would argue against simple ADAF models. The point of Figure 3 is to show that ADAF models are consistent with the requirement of a low-radiative efficiency. In fact, Figure 3 shows that it is possible for the accretion flow to account for a large fraction of the observed nuclear emission, thereby offering an alternative explanation.

## 5 Discussion

Chandra observations of the nucleus of M87 have resolved the properties of the ISM all the way into the Bondi radius of the central black hole. This makes M87 the only extragalactic black hole system in which both the gas temperature and density are measured into approximately the accretion region, and for which a Bondi accretion rate can be directly calculated (see Narayan 2002 or Quataert 2002 for similar study of Sgr A). M87 also possesses a relatively bright nuclear source, the flux of which can be accurately measured in the X-ray band with Chandra, and throughout the whole of the spectral energy distribution with other observations. At present, M87 is the best constrained low-luminosity extragalactic black hole system. With both $`L_x`$ and $`\dot{M}`$ measured, we were able to show unambiguously that the black hole in M87 is highly underluminous with respect to its Bondi mass supply: the expected power output exceeds, by about 4 orders of magnitude, the observed value. If the black hole in M87 is indeed accreting close to its Bondi rate (cf., §5.1), the accretion efficiency, $`\eta `$, must be low. We have shown that the required values of $`\eta `$ are consistent with predictions from ADAF models.

We note that our general result is independent of whether the observed nuclear luminosity is attributed to an ADAF or entirely dominated by jet emission (see e.g. Wilson & Yang 2002; Marshall et al. 2002). The constraints derived here show that it is possible for a significant fraction of the observed nuclear emission to be contributed by the accretion flow. More importantly, perhaps, the requirement for low-radiative efficiency of the accreting gas can only be invalidated if the actual mass accreted by the black hole were to be a very small fraction of the mass supplied in the outer region of the flow (i.e. of $`\dot{M}_{\mathrm{Bondi}}`$). This could be the case if strong outflows or perhaps convection are important in the accretion flow, as has been discussed by e.g. Blandford & Begelman (1999), Stone et al. (1999) and Quataert & Gruzinov (2000), Narayan et al. (2000), respectively (but see Balbus & Hawley’s  discussion on convection). In such models, the accretion flow would produce a much lower luminosity than a pure inflow ADAF and make a negligible contribution to the observed luminosity (which, in the case of M87, can be easily explained by the jet emission. In the CDAF case, the energy would probably need to be tapped from the black hole’s spin in order to explain the high jet power). The Bondi rate could also be decreased if the jet heats the ISM. We discuss this further in §5.1.

In a previous study using radio observations, Di Matteo et al. (1999; 2000) favored outflow models for the nuclei of ellipticals. With Chandra, the properties of the central regions of the ISM gas have been determined more accurately for a number of elliptical galaxies (e.g., Loewenstein et al. 2001). In particular, the new observations have shown that the ISM density profiles tend to flatten off significantly in the central regions of ellipticals (as is the case in M87 - Figure 2), implying Bondi accretion rates smaller than was previously estimated. In most cases, Chandra does not detect nuclear point sources (Loewenstein et al. 2001). Given that their black hole masses are more uncertain, the constraints for these other low luminosity systems remain inconclusive. The only two Chandra detections of X-ray nuclear sources in low luminosity elliptical nuclei are in M87 and NGC 6166 (Di Matteo et al. 2001). For both of these nuclei, pure inflow ADAF models are consistent with the observational constraints and can explain large fractions of the observed nuclear fluxes. Chandra observations of Sgr A have also measured the X-ray flux of the nuclear point source (Baganoff et al. 2001) and allowed us to estimate accretion rates onto the central black hole (e.g. Narayan 2002; Quataert 2002). Sgr A, like the elliptical nuclei, also requires low radiative efficiency for the accreting gas and is consistent with ADAF models. Further constraints on ADAF and inflow/outflow models in the case of ellipticals will require knowledge of the contributions, over all wavelengths, of emission from the bases of the jets.

### 5.1 $`\dot{M}_{Bondi}`$, overall energetics and activity

Our fundamental conclusions rely on the assumption that the black hole in M87 is accreting mass at the Bondi rate. The predicted nuclear power of M87, for accretion at the Bondi rate, and $`\eta =0.1`$ is $``$ 5 $`\times `$ $`10^{44}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ (see Eq. 4). This estimate roughly matches some estimates of the kinetic power in the jet which is calculated to be $`10^{44}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ (e.g.; Bicknell & Begelman 1999; Owen et al. 2000; whereas Reynolds et al. 1996 obtain $`10^{43}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$). A rough estimate of the jet power required to evacuate, at the sound speed, the inner cavities in the ICM associated with the inner radio lobes ($`23\mathrm{kpc}`$) in M87 implies $`L_\mathrm{j}3\times 10^{42}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ (Young et al. 2002). This value is smaller than the estimates of Bicknell & Begelman (1999) and Owen et al. (2000) but only considers the cavities observed in the inner region of M87. Further, $`L_\mathrm{j}`$ would be higher if the cavities are evacuated supersonically.

We find, therefore, that the Bondi luminosity estimate roughly matches the overall energetics of the black hole in M87 (if this is indeed $`10^{44}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$). This may provide support for the relevance of Bondi theory as a means of estimating the mass supply and the nuclear power of black holes in ellipticals. We note that the jet in M87 is also a low-efficiency radiator with a total bolometric luminosity of the order of $`10^{42}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ (Owen et al. 2000). Thus, based on these estimates of the power of the nucleus, the energy input if all the $`\dot{M}_{\mathrm{Bondi}}`$ reaches the black hole, at present dominates radiative losses from both the jet and accretion flow.

We discuss two alternative possibilities to the low-radiative efficiency scenario: (a) as mentioned above, Blandford & Begelman (see also e.g. Stone et al. 1999) have suggested that low luminosity accretion flows may develop strong outflows such that most of the mass and energy is removed from the accretion flows. In this case one may speculate that the accretion energy is emerging in the jet (it has been shown that the inner kiloparsec of M87 is highly magnetized and turbulent, e.g. Owen, Eilek & Keel 1990; Zhou 1998. Outflows may become collimated and radiate more efficiently when interacting with this medium). On the same note, Livio, Ogilvie & Pringle (1999) have argued that the energy extraction from black holes via MHD processes such as the Blandford-Znajek mechanism (Blandford & Znajek 1977) may in-fact be most efficient for advection dominated flows (see also Meier 2001).

(b) The central engine of M87 undergoes on-off activity cycles (e.g., Binney 1999; Owen et al. 2000). The black hole in M87 may have been active for 100-200 Myr (as derived from estimates of the current age of its radio halos; Owen et al. 2000). As long as the black hole is fed (e.g. at the estimated Bondi rate) it will have a strong effect on the ISM gas in the core (the bolometric X-ray luminosity of which is $`10^{43}\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1`$ in the inner 20 kpc or so; e.g. Nulsen & Böhringer 1995). The jet will disturb (or heat) the core regions, support bulk flows and turbulence. These extra pressure forces may, in turn, offset radiative cooling, support the gas against gravitational infall and suppress accretion onto the black hole (hence the jet activity itself). Once the central engine turns off, no energy is deposited in the core so that accretion at the standard Bondi rate and then jet activity resume.

The significant flattening of the X-ray gas density profile within the central $`34\mathrm{kpc}`$ (Fig. 2) may be a strong indication that indeed energy is being deposited in the central region of M87 (see also Loewestein et al. 2001 for other Virgo ellipticals). A flat density profile can only arise if there is lots of mass dropout (see e.g.; Quatert & Narayan 2000) or maybe if gas is not flowing inward at all. Given that mass dropout is not seen in X-ray data at larger radii (Böehringer et al. 2002; Molendi & Pizzolati 2001) it is possible that something has affected the accretion radius and stifled accretion.

It is interesting to note that the mild peak in the Figure 2 density profile coincides with the ring at about 10 arcsec from the nucleus (Figure 1) which is also where the H-$`\alpha `$ emission peaks. This possibly indicates that there could be stifled inflow within this radius and a cooling flow outside it. It is also notable that the few $`\mathrm{kpc}`$ radius corresponds approximately to the size of the inner radio lobes of M87 (Owen et al. 2000). There is also strong evidence of ‘cavities’ in the X-ray emitting gas of M87, the inner ones of which coincide with the inner radio lobes (Young et al. 2002; see also Fig. 1) and a number of other clusters containing radio galaxies (McNamara et al. 2000; Fabian et al. 2000; Heinz et al. 2002); some of these cavities are associated with observed radio lobes and others are hypothesized to be relics of old radio activity.

It has been shown that Bondi accretion can be significantly suppressed in a non-adiabatic gas (e.g. Ostriker et al. 1976). Following along these lines, we show that, at present, the energy dumped into the ISM by the jet in M87 may be sufficient to decrease the accretion rate with respect to the Bondi value by a factor $`<10^6`$. We do not attempt to build a detailed model but just qualitatively discuss the implications of non-adiabatic Bondi accretion for M87.

We consider a jet of power $`L_j`$ and velocity $`v_j`$ advancing into the ISM with density $`\rho `$. The jet forces its way outwards at a speed $`v_h`$ which is obtained by balancing the outward momentum flux of the jet with the pressure of the ISM. As long as $`v_h`$ is larger than the sound speed $`c_s`$ in the ISM, the thermal pressure will be dominated by the contribution $`\rho v_h^2`$ from ram pressure. Hence $`v_h(L_j/\rho A_hv_j)^{1/2}`$. When $`v_h`$ no longer exceeds $`c_s`$, the jet will slow down and dump energy in the surrounding medium. The inner radio lobes (in the inner few kpc) in M87 may be associated with such a region. Recent Chandra observations of M87 (Young et al. 2002) and other radio galaxies in clusters show no evidence that such interactions lead to sharp bow-shock regions. More often, it seems that jets are responsible for inflating bubbles in the surrounding ISM which then expand buoyantly (i.e. roughly at the sound speed; e.g. Churazov et al. 2001; Reynolds, Heinz & Begelman 2002) and give rise to radio lobes and corresponding X-ray structures. We take $`\pi r^2`$ to be the cross sectional area of the bubble inflated by the jet around the centre (which, for simplicity, we take to be spherical see e.g. Churazov et al. 2001; Reynolds et al. 2002)

Taking the mass, momentum and adding the energy conservation equation to the standard Bondi problem one can solve for the accretion radius (see details in Appendix A) with the addition of an energy (heat) source. In this case the accretion radius is reduced to:

$$r_\mathrm{s}=\frac{GM}{2c_\mathrm{s}^2}\frac{2}{3}\frac{r_\mathrm{s}^2}{c_\mathrm{s}^3}(H),$$
(5)
where the heating is in units of $`\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{g}^1`$ and the first term in Equation 5 is the standard Bondi radius as in Equation 1. According to the considerations above we write the energy deposited by the jet as: $`H=L_j/m`$ (where m is the total gas mass) with $`L_j\pi r^2\rho v_jv_h^2`$ so that $`Hv_jv_h^2/r`$. In this problem we take heating (i.e., the energy deposition) to be occurring around the accretion radius of the black hole (see Appendix for details). The inner radio lobes and X-ray cavities both on kpc scale may be indications that this is not too bad an approximation (although these are at radii which are more than an order of magnitude larger than the accretion radius). The resulting accretion radius will rescale from the classical Bondi value roughly as,

$$r_\mathrm{s}\frac{GM}{c_\mathrm{s}^2}\left(\frac{v_j}{c_s}\right)^1$$
(6)
where we have assumed that $`v_hc_s`$, the velocity of the bubble inflated by the jet in the ISM. Equation 6 clearly shows that the if bulk motions (as well as heat) at speeds $`>c_s`$ are created by the jet, then the accretion rate is affected.

The flow velocity of the M87 jet on scales of a few hundred parsec is highly relativistic (Biretta, Zhou & Owen 1995). Thus, according to the above scaling the accretion radius of M87 is likely to be reduced by a factor $`1,000`$. This would imply a decrease in mass accretion rate by $`10^6`$. This is more than enough to relax the requirement for low-radiative efficiency of the accreting gas. This may also provide support for the idea that the engine of M87 may undergo cycles of activity and at present the black hole is accreting at rates much lower than the Bondi rate. However, the transit time from the nucleus to the knot A in the jet (at a distance of $`1`$ kpc) is only about $`3000`$ yrs. This implies that for the accretion rate to be low now, the last active phase must have been a ”burst-like” event of strong accretion on a relatively short timescale.

We thank Eliot Quataert for comments on the manuscript. T. D. M. acknowledges support for this work, while at CfA, provided by NASA through Chandra Postdoctoral Fellowship grant number PF8-10005 awarded by the Chandra Science Center, which is operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for NASA under contract NAS8-39073 and for grant NAG-10105. ACF and SWA aknowledge the Royal Society. This work was also supported by NASA through grants NAG 81755 and NAG 81027 to the University of Maryland.

## Appendix A Appendix

In order to to show the effects of a jet of power $`L_\mathrm{j}`$ dumping its energy in the ISM gas, we write the mass, momentum and energy conservation equations for the accretion radius under the conditions of spherically symmetric, steady ($`/t=0`$) accretion. We consider the most of the heating to be occurring within or just outside the accretion radius.

$$\dot{M}=4\pi r^2\rho (r)v(r),$$
(A1)
$$v\frac{dv}{dr}+\frac{1}{\rho }\frac{dP}{dr}+\frac{GM}{r^2}=0$$
(A2)
and

$$v\frac{d}{dr}\left[\frac{v^2}{2}+(\gamma 1)\frac{P}{\rho }\right]=\frac{GM}{r^2}v+H$$
(A3)
where the quantities $`\dot{M}`$, $`\rho `$, $`v`$, $`P`$ and $`\gamma `$ represent the mass accretion, the mass density, the radial velocity, the pressure, the gas adiabatic index, respectively. $`H`$ is the heating rate. Using (A1) and taking $`\gamma =5/3`$ we rewrite Eqs. (A2) and (A3) as

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dv}{dr}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{v^2}{c_\mathrm{s}^2}}1\right)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{GMv}{r^2c_\mathrm{s}^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}{\displaystyle \frac{H}{c_\mathrm{s}^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{2v}{r}}`$ (A4)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{dc_\mathrm{s}^2}{dr}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{v^2}{c_\mathrm{s}^2}}1\right)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{GM}{r^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{2v^2}{r}}+{\displaystyle \frac{5v^23c_\mathrm{s}^2}{3c_\mathrm{s}^2v}}H`$
For the flow to satisfy the appropriate boundary conditions, $`v0`$ as $`r\mathrm{}`$ and $`v(GM/r)^{1/2}`$ as $`r0`$, the two equations above must have a sonic point at $`r=r_\mathrm{s}`$ where $`v^2=c_s^2`$. The only solutions that are continuous imply that the RHS of both equations is 0. Both equation have the same sonic radius, and solving for that gives,

$$r_\mathrm{s}=\frac{GM}{2c_\mathrm{s}^2}\frac{2}{3}\frac{r_\mathrm{s}^2}{c_\mathrm{s}^3}(H),$$
(A5)
where the heating and cooling rates are in units of $`\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}^1\mathrm{g}^1`$. The factor $`2/3`$ applies to the $`\gamma =5/3`$ case but can be substituted (and thus generalized) by the term $`(\gamma 1)`$.


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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

In spite of much attention, a consistent theory of quantum gravity remains one of the most challenging problems in theoretical physics. Nonetheless, one can still hope to partially comprehend this elusive, fundamental theory by looking for imprints that it may leave on a semi-classical framework. One likely imprint is the “holographic principle” , which indicates that a physical system of dimensionality $`d`$ can be effectively described by a system that lives in one dimension fewer.

It is interesting to note that the holographic principle started out as an intuitive leap of faith from the Bekenstein entropy bound . Since its literary inception, however, this principle has attained considerable support; in particular, by way of the anti-de Sitter (AdS)/conformal field theory (CFT) correspondence . The essence of this correspondence is that a $`d`$+1-dimensional theory of AdS gravity (i.e., Einstein gravity with a negative cosmological constant) is dually related to a $`d`$-dimensional CFT that lives on a timelike boundary of the AdS bulk. For instance, boundary values of bulk fields serve as sources for the corresponding CFT. This realization has lead to explicit calculations of boundary correlation functions in terms of strictly bulk formalism .

On the basis of the holographic principle, it has been argued that some sort of analogue to the AdS/CFT duality should exist for any bulk theory that includes gravity . However, this is anything but a trivial extension, considering that gravitational theories with a non-negative cosmological constant have no accessible boundary at spatial infinity. At least naively, the existence of such a boundary is critically important to many relevant calculations on account of the infrared-ultraviolet connection . That is to say, the high-energy regime of a boundary-induced CFT can only be accessed in the large radial limit of the dual bulk theory. Such accessibility is important because as one moves deeper and deeper into the bulk (i.e., towards smaller radii), the CFT probes lower and lower energies, and the fine-grained details of the holographic picture are lost.

In spite of the above discussion, an analogous de Sitter (i.e., positive cosmological constant) or dS/CFT correspondence has indeed been established .111For further citations in support of the dS/CFT duality, see Ref.. Also see Refs.. The problem of a missing boundary at spatial infinity has nicely been circumvented with the assumption that the dual CFT is now a Euclidean one that lives on a spacelike boundary of the dS bulk. It should be noted, however, that the dS/CFT duality remains on weaker ground than its AdS analogue. This can primarily be attributed to dS spacetimes lacking a string-theoretical description and an objective observer .

Also of interest is the flat-space limit of the AdS/CFT correspondence, which translates into a bulk gravity theory with a vanishing cosmological constant. In principle, this should be a perfectly valid limiting procedure. In practice, however, rigorous calculations are inhibited by a non-localization of the holographic mapping as the flat-space limit is approached .

An interesting subplot in the AdS/CFT correspondence is the renowned Cardy-Verlinde formula . In the cited paper (also see ), Verlinde exploited the relevant duality to demonstrate that, for an arbitrary-dimensional bulk, the thermodynamics of the dual CFT could be expressed in a form which mimics the Cardy entropic formula . Also of interest, the sub-extensive contribution to the CFT entropy plays the role of the Cardy “central charge”. Paradoxically, the Cardy formula originated in a strictly two-dimensional (CFT) framework, and there is no a priori basis for its generalization to higher-dimensional theories. Furthermore, the Cardy central charge is a Virasoro algebraic parameter; with the Virasoro algebra describing the symmetries of strictly two-dimensional CFTs .

Let us briefly point out that the Cardy-Verlinde formula  has since been generalized to a myriad of scenarios; including asymptotically AdS (for instance, ), asymptotically dS (for instance, ) and, even, asymptotically flat  spacetimes.222For an up-to-date list of citations, see Ref.. Moreover, the status of the “Casimir entropy” (i.e., the sub-extensive contribution to the CFT entropy) as a legitimate analogue to the Cardy central charge has since been substantiated . In particular, these studies have identified the Casimir entropy with the “C-function” of a renormalization-group flow (when the conformal symmetry of the boundary theory is broken), in perfect analogy to the central charge of a two-dimensional broken CFT .

Let us return our attention to the paradox of CFT entropies consistently adopting Cardy-like descriptions, regardless of the dimensionality. In a sense, this is not particularly surprising in view of some prior studies by Carlip and Solodukhin . These authors have shown that the two-dimensional Cardy formula is relevant to the entropic calculation of virtually any spacetime (of any dimensionality) that admits a black hole (or black hole-like) event horizon. In spite of this universality, a lack of clarity at the interpretative level remains conspicuously absent.333See Ref. for relevant discussion. Recently, however, Halyo was able to shed some light on this matter . In the context of a $`d`$+1-dimensional asymptotically dS bulk, this author has shown that the dually related ($`d`$-dimensional) CFT behaves, thermodynamically, just like a string. In particular, a linear relationship between the entropy and extensive energy of the boundary theory is in evidence. In view of this stringy description, the $`d`$-dimensional CFT can be interpreted as having only two relevant dimensions.

Halyo went on to demonstrate  that the CFT thermodynamic properties, including an effective string tension and energy, are directly related to those of a string that lives on the “stretched” (cosmological) horizon444A stretched black hole (or cosmological) horizon  refers to a timelike surface that lies at a distance of the fundamental string scale ($`l_s`$) above the event horizon. of the asymptotically dS bulk. (This latter picture follows from the “black hole-string correspondence”, as originally advocated by Susskind .) Furthermore, when the properties of the stretched horizon have properly been renormalized (see the end of this section), then these two stringy descriptions are, in fact, thermodynamically equivalent. That is, the CFT can alternatively be viewed as a horizon-based string having a renormalized tension. Notably, this program was later generalized for the case of an AdS-black hole bulk . Given that a string is fundamentally a two-dimensional object, a Cardy-like formulation for the entropy of any CFT or, by duality, any black hole begins to make sense.

The focus of the current paper is a further generalization of the Halyo treatment  (also see ) to the case of an asymptotically flat black hole spacetime. Such a study has importance for the following two reasons. Firstly, considering the priorly discussed work of Carlip and Solodukhin , one might anticipate that a stringy description of a duality-induced CFT is a universal feature of any bulk theory that admits an event horizon. Thus, for completeness sake, it is important to verify that this description persists in the case of an asymptotically flat bulk.

Secondly, let us first point out that a definitively dual CFT for an asymptotically flat spacetime remains a relatively open question . Nonetheless, Klemm et al.  have managed to generalize the Cardy-Verlinde formula for just such a flat-space scenario.555Jing  has also considered such a generalization. However, it remains unclear, at least to the current author, if this generalized Cardy-Verlinde formula should be interpreted as an intriguing coincidence or as a true manifestation of the holographic principle. (In this regard, we note that the formula in question, although certainly valid, did not follow directly from holographic arguments.666This is contrary to the original Cardy-Verlinde expression  and many of its subsequent generalizations. We further note that the associated Casimir energy lacks the monotonicity properties, as relevant to a renormalization-group flow, which are evident in AdS-inspired dualities .) We believe that this issue can be somewhat clarified by way of the “CFT-stretched horizon correspondence”. That is to say, if such a duality is in evidence for an asymptotically flat bulk, as it is for asymptotically AdS and dS scenarios , it would strongly support the holographic viewpoint.

The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, we begin by introducing the bulk solution of interest; namely, an arbitrary-dimensional Schwarzschild (i.e., asymptotically flat) black hole. The relevant black hole thermodynamics are presented, and these are used to formulate the thermodynamics of a (presumably) dual CFT. It is then shown that the CFT entropy satisfies Klemm et al.’s generalization  of the Cardy-Verlinde formula . We also demonstrate the anticipated string-like behavior of the CFT  and accordingly identify an effective string tension and energy.

In Section 3, we consider a much different effective theory; with this one living on a boundary close to the horizon of the Schwarzschild-black hole. Following Susskind’s proposal of a black hole-string correspondence , we demonstrate that the near-horizon geometry can be described as a single fundamental string that lives on this so-called stretched horizon. Furthermore, the associated thermodynamic properties of the string are appropriately identified.

In Section 4, we go on to compare these two stringy descriptions (of the Schwarzschild bulk) and ultimately confirm their thermodynamic equivalence. Essential to this identification is a coordinate rescaling of the properties of the string at the stretched horizon. This process can be viewed as a renormalization that accounts for the gravitational red shift occurring between the horizon and a cosmological observer (see below). Finally, Section 5 contains a summary and an overview.

Before proceeding to the main body of the paper, we present a brief discussion on the black hole-string correspondence, as this duality plays a prominent role in the analysis to follow.

Roughly a decade ago, Susskind proposed  a one-to-one correspondence between sufficiently massive black holes and highly excited fundamental strings. Let us now review the logistics of this proposal. As string coupling increases, the size of a string state must ultimately fall below its Schwarzschild radius and, hence, the string state should naturally evolve into a black hole . Conversely, as string coupling decreases, the size of a black hole must eventually fall below the string scale and, hence, the near-horizon geometry should no longer be interpreted as a black hole per se. Thus, a black hole and some sort of string configuration can be regarded as strongly and weakly coupled manifestations of the same entity. Now consider that, at large enough mass, a typical string state consists of a small number of highly excited strings. However, as such a configuration approaches the high-temperature conditions of the horizon (i.e., the Hagedorn temperature), a single string will become the entropically preferred state . Alternatively, an external observer would view the various strings as having melted together into a single string that fills up the stretched horizon . On the basis of these arguments, a one-to-one correspondence between black holes and strings does indeed follow.

Contrary to the above perspective, there is, of course, an observed discrepancy between black hole and string thermodynamics. In particular, the entropy of a string has a linear energy dependence, whereas the entropy of (for instance) a four-dimensional Schwarzschild black hole depends quadratically on its mass. However, Susskind has conjectured  that this discrepancy can be accounted for with an appropriate renormalization of the string energy. Such a renormalization is, indeed, necessary by virtue of the large gravitational red shift occurring between the stretched horizon and an external observer. Exploiting the Rindler-like near-horizon geometry of a Schwarzschild black hole, Susskind was able to demonstrate the feasibility of this conjecture.

The validity of the black hole-string correspondence has since been rigorously substantiated for various black hole (as well as black hole-like) scenarios . Generally speaking, the counting of string states yields an entropy that coincides with the anticipated Bekenstein-Hawking form up to some ambiguity in the numerical coefficient. Let us further note that the same philosophy has also been applied to special classes of supersymmetric extremal and near-extremal black holes. (For instance, Ref. and, for a review, Ref..) Remarkably, in these cases, the Bekenstein-Hawking form has been reproduced with no ambiguity. Significant to this precision is a special property of such models; namely, supersymmetry protects the mass against renormalization .

## 2 A CFT Description of Schwarzschild Black Holes

In this section, we will review a proposal by Klemm et al.  of a generalized Cardy-Verlinde formula  for an asymptotically flat black hole. We will also re-interpret the dual CFT (as implied by the generalized formula) as an effective stringy theory in analogy to Refs..

Let us begin here by considering the bulk model of interest; namely, a spherically symmetric black hole in an $`n`$+2-dimensional spacetime with vanishing cosmological constant.777In this study, we will limit considerations to $`n2`$, as it is well established that an asymptotically flat, three-dimensional spacetime does not admit black hole solutions. We are also assuming no conserved charges other than the mass. In a static gauge, such a black hole can be uniquely described by the well-known Schwarzschild solution (generalized for arbitrary dimensionality). That is:

$$ds_{n+2}^2=h(r)dt^2+\frac{1}{h(r)}dr^2+r^2d\mathrm{\Omega }_n^2,$$
(1)
where:

$$h(r)=1\frac{\omega _nM}{r^{n1}},$$
(2)
$$\omega _n=\frac{16\pi G}{n𝒱_n}.$$
(3)
Here, $`d\mathrm{\Omega }_n^2`$ denotes the line element of a unit $`n`$-sphere with volume $`𝒱_n`$, $`G`$ is the $`n`$+2-dimensional Newton constant, and $`M`$ (a constant of integration) is the conserved mass of the associated black hole.

For a non-vanishing (positive) $`M`$, there will be a single black hole horizon, which corresponds to the positive root of $`h(r)`$. Denoting this horizon by $`r=R`$, we thus obtain:

$$R^{n1}=\omega _nM.$$
(4)
The associated black hole thermodynamics (energy, temperature, entropy) can readily be identified via standard techniques :

$$E_{Sch}=M,$$
(5)
$$T_{Sch}=\frac{1}{4\pi }\frac{dh}{dr}|_{r=R}=\frac{n1}{4\pi R},$$
(6)
$$S_{Sch}=\frac{𝒱_nR^n}{4G}=\frac{4\pi }{n\omega _n}R^n.$$
(7)
Following Klemm et al. , let us assume that Schwarzschild black holes, like their AdS-Schwarzschild counterparts, have the following dual description: an $`n`$+1-dimensional CFT that lives on a timelike boundary of the bulk spacetime. The CFT thermodynamics should then be related to those of a bulk up to a simple red-shift factor (with this ambiguity being a direct consequence of the conformal symmetry of the boundary theory) . Because of the relative simplicity of the bulk theory, we will assume that, in this case, the red-shift factor is equal to unity. Significant to this choice is the existence of a single length scale, $`R`$, for the bulk geometry. (Actually, this choice is difficult to justify; except that, because of the conformal symmetry at the boundary, we are free to do so. One might say that we started with the generalized Cardy-Verlinde formula  and then defined the CFT thermodynamics so as to obtain a suitable match. The significance of this distinction will be elaborated on in the final section.)

Given the above considerations, we have:

$$E_{CFT}=E_{Sch}=\frac{1}{\omega _n}R^{n1},$$
(8)
$$T_{CFT}=T_{Sch}=\frac{n1}{4\pi R},$$
(9)
$$S_{CFT}=S_{Sch}=\frac{4\pi }{n\omega _n}R^n,$$
(10)
where we have applied Eq.(4) in obtaining the first result. Note that the CFT entropy is, in fact, uniquely defined, as entropy is never affected by the choice of scale .

Now following Verlinde , we will define the Casimir contribution ($`E_C`$) to the CFT energy as the violation of $`E(\lambda S,\lambda V)=\lambda E(S,V)`$; i.e., the violation in the Euler identity. This definition leads to the following relation  (now suppressing the subscript CFT on relevant thermodynamic quantities):

$$E_C=n\left[E+pVTS\right],$$
(11)
where $`V=R^n𝒱_n`$ is the volume enclosed by the CFT boundary and $`p=E/nV`$ is the pressure. Here, we have assumed the equation of state for radiative matter, as is appropriate for a theory with a traceless stress tensor. Straightforward evaluation of the above yields:

$$E_C=2\frac{R^{n1}}{\omega _n}=2E.$$
(12)
Let us recall the Cardy-Verlinde formula for the CFT entropy as relevant to an asymptotically AdS bulk :

$$S=\frac{2\pi R}{n}\sqrt{E_C\left[2EE_C\right]}.$$
(13)
Naively applying this formula to the asymptotically flat case, we obtain the nonsensical result of $`S=0`$. However, this unpleasant situation can be dealt with by first noting that the standard Cardy formula for a two-dimensional CFT :888Note that $`c`$ is the central charge and $`L_o`$ is the eigenvalue of the zero-mode generator of the corresponding Virasoro algebra, which can be used to describe the symmetries of a two-dimensional CFT .

$$S=2\pi \sqrt{\frac{c}{6}\left[L_o\frac{c}{24}\right]}$$
(14)
takes on a simplified form when the conformal weight of the ground state is zero. This simplification being:

$$S=2\pi \sqrt{\frac{cL_o}{6}}.$$
(15)
By direct analogy, this consideration implies that, under “appropriate circumstances”, the Cardy-Verlinde should be modified as follows:

$$S=\frac{2\pi R}{n}\sqrt{E_C(2E)}.$$
(16)
It is not difficult to verify that this revised form of the Cardy-Verlinde entropy (16) is, indeed, satisfied by the thermodynamic properties (8,10,12) of our conjectured CFT. Furthermore, it is straightforward to substantiate the following relation:

$$S=\frac{4\pi R}{n}E.$$
(17)
The significance of the above expression is the direct proportionality that exists between the CFT entropy and energy. (It is perhaps a subtle distinction, but, to a boundary observer, $`R`$ represents a fixed ultraviolet cutoff  rather than a mass-dependent horizon radius. That is to say, this string-like behavior is not evident to a bulk observer; even though, strictly speaking, the thermodynamic relations are equivalent.) Notably, such linearity is a characteristic behavior of strings . With this in mind, we can re-interpret Eq.(17) as the equation of state for an “effective string” having an energy:

$$=\frac{2C}{n}E$$
(18)
and having a tension:

$$𝒯=\frac{C^2}{2\pi R^2}.$$
(19)
Here, we have introduced a yet-to-be-determined parameter, $`C`$. On the basis of prior studies , it can be anticipated that, in general, $`C=C(R;n,k)`$.

The above string-like behavior is not a trivial outcome, inasmuch as the CFT typically has at least three spacetime dimensions, whereas a string is fundamentally a two-dimensional entity. This outcome is, however, not a complete surprise, considering that the relevant degrees of freedom for any black hole can evidently be described by a two-dimensional CFT . That the Cardy-Verlinde description itself  has its genesis in two dimensions  also supports this notion. It would appear that some universal but as-of-yet-unknown principle underlies these various approaches.

## 3 A Stringy Description of Schwarzschild Black Holes

In the preceding section, we have shown that the CFT of interest (i.e., a CFT that is possibly dual to an asymptotically flat spacetime) exhibits some characteristics of a string-like object. With this mind, we will next consider a stringy description of a Schwarzschild black hole as based on a one-to-one correspondence that appears to exist between black holes and strings . More specifically, Susskind has proposed that a massive black hole can be identified with a highly excited string which is located at the so-called stretched horizon . Furthermore, Susskind has argued that the apparent thermodynamic differences (between these two pictures) can be attributed to the long-range effects of the gravitational field; that is, the immense red shift occurring between the stretched horizon and a distant observer. (See Section 1 for supplementary discussion.)

To exploit the proposed correspondence, it is first necessary (or, at least, convenient) to transform the near-horizon black hole geometry into a Rindler-like form. We can accomplish this task by introducing a new radial coordinate, $`y`$, in accordance with $`r=R+y`$ (with $`y<<R`$ being assumed). Up to first order in $`y/R`$, the metric function $`h(r)`$ (2) can now be written as:

$$h(y)\frac{n1}{R}y.$$
(20)
Incorporating the above into Eq.(1), we find the following near-horizon form for the line element:

$$ds_{NH}^2=y\frac{n1}{R}dt^2+\frac{1}{y}\frac{R}{n1}dy^2+R^2d\mathrm{\Omega }_n^2.$$
(21)
It is useful if $`y`$ is replaced with a coordinate that directly measures the proper radial distance from the horizon. Denoting the proper distance as $`\rho `$, we obtain (up to the first perturbative order):

$$\rho \sqrt{\frac{R}{n1}}^y\frac{dy}{\sqrt{y}}=2\sqrt{\frac{Ry}{n1}}.$$
(22)
The near-horizon line element (21) can now be expressed in the following Rindler-like form:

$$ds_{NH}^2=\frac{(n1)^2}{4R^2}\rho ^2dt^2+d\rho ^2+R^2d\mathrm{\Omega }_n^2.$$
(23)
The near-horizon geometry can be identically formulated as a Rindler spacetime:

$$ds_{NH}^2=\rho ^2d\tau ^2+d\rho ^2+R^2d\mathrm{\Omega }_n^2,$$
(24)
provided that the associated temporal coordinate is defined as follows:

$$\tau \frac{n1}{2R}t.$$
(25)
Note that the Rindler time, $`\tau `$, is a dimensionless quantity.

Next, let us consider the thermodynamics as measured by a hypothetical Rindler observer at the stretched horizon. The dimensionless horizon temperature is known to be :

$$T_R=\frac{1}{2\pi }.$$
(26)
Meanwhile, the Rindler entropy should still be given by the Bekenstein-Hawking area law  (or its $`n`$+2-dimensional analogue), and so:

$$S_R=S_{Sch}.$$
(27)
To determine the dimensionless Rindler energy, we simply apply the first law of thermodynamics; that is, $`dE_R=T_RdS_R`$. This process yields:

$$E_R=\frac{1}{2\pi }S_R=\frac{2R^n}{n\omega _n},$$
(28)
with the right-most relation following from Eqs.(7,27).

Significantly, the linear relation between Rindler entropy and energy is (once again) indicative of string-like behavior. By way of Susskind’s conjecture , we can attribute this behavior to the state of a single string that lives on the stretched horizon. Note that the associated string tension, in dimensionless Rindler coordinates, can readily be identified as:

$$𝒯_R=\frac{1}{2\pi }.$$
(29)
Meanwhile, the dimensionless string energy is trivially $`_R=E_R`$.

For a hypothetical observer located near the horizon, the fundamental length scale will be the string length, $`l_s`$, as it is this quantity that, by definition, determines the radial extent of the stretched horizon . Hence, we can obtain the dimensional thermodynamics of the stretched horizon by rescaling the Rindler relations in terms of this length. In particular, quantities with units of energy (or inverse length) should be divided by $`l_s`$. That is:

$$T_{SH}=\frac{T_R}{l_s}=\frac{1}{2\pi l_s},$$
(30)
$$S_{SH}=S_R=S_{Sch},$$
(31)
$$_{SH}=\frac{_R}{l_s}=\frac{2R^n}{n\omega _nl_s},$$
(32)
$$𝒯_{SH}=\frac{𝒯_R}{l_s^2}=\frac{1}{2\pi l_s^2}.$$
(33)
It is interesting to note that $`T_{SH}`$ agrees with the Hagedorn temperature of a string .

Let us re-emphasize that, in accordance with the black hole-string correspondence , the apparent discrepancy in thermodynamic properties (between those of the stretched horizon and those of the black hole) should be attributable to the long-range effects of the gravitational field. Notably, this conjectured duality has, indeed, been verified for a number of models (for instance, ) up to some ambiguity in the numerical coefficients. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that the same arguments lead to a thermodynamic identification between the string at the stretched horizon and the (effective) string on the CFT boundary . This last point is of particular relevance to the analysis of the following section.

## 4 A CFT/String Correspondence?

In the preceding analysis, we have observed two different string-like descriptions of an asymptotically flat (black hole) spacetime; with the strings in question being located on the “CFT boundary” and the stretched black hole horizon. The purpose of the current section is to ascertain if these stringy theories are thermodynamically equivalent. Given that such an equivalence has been found for both asymptotically AdS  and dS  bulk geometries, we will view a similar outcome here as strong support for the proposed duality between asymptotically flat spacetimes and CFTs .

The stringy theories of interest can only be judiciously compared if the pertinent measurements are being carried out by a common observer. Hence, it is necessary that the thermodynamics of the stretched horizon be suitably rescaled for a cosmological observer (i.e., one who is far away from the horizon in terms of all relevant length scales). We can accomplish this task by rescaling the (dimensionless) Rindler thermodynamic quantities (26-29) in terms of the “cosmological” time coordinate, $`t`$. Utilizing the precise relation between $`t`$ and the Rindler time coordinate (viz Eq.(25)), we thus obtain the following rescaled quantities:

$$T_{SH}^{}=\frac{d\tau }{dt}T_R=\frac{n1}{4\pi R},$$
(34)
$$S_{SH}^{}=S_R=S_{Sch},$$
(35)
$$_{SH}^{}=\frac{d\tau }{dt}_R=\frac{n1}{n\omega _n}R^{n1},$$
(36)
$$𝒯_{SH}^{}=\left(\frac{d\tau }{dt}\right)^2𝒯_R=\frac{(n1)^2}{8\pi R^2}.$$
(37)
Note that a prime indicates that a rescaling has taken place.

As an aside, let us compare the above outcomes with those of Eqs.(30-33); that is, the thermodynamic properties of the string at the stretched horizon as measured by a local observer. In going from a horizon to a cosmological perspective, we observe an effective renormalization of roughly $`ł_s^1R^1`$. Since the black hole-string correspondence  presumes that $`R>>l_s`$, this renormalization implies a significant reduction in the energy, string tension and temperature as measured by an external observer. Such a renormalization is, however, expected by virtue of the large gravitational red shift occurring between the horizon and a cosmological vantage point .

In the prior related works , a further rescaling was necessary to account for an observer who is specifically located at the CFT boundary. We happily note that this is not the case here, since the relevant red-shift factor (between the bulk and the CFT boundary) was originally taken to be unity. Thus, we are now in a position to directly compare the thermodynamic properties of the stringy CFT (9,10,18,19) with the renormalized properties of the stretched horizon (34-37). This comparison goes as follows.

We begin here by noting that the entropies $`S`$ and $`S_{SH}^{}`$ trivially agree, as this dimensionless quantity is unaffected by any coordinate rescalings. On a less trivial note, we observe the following thermal coincidence (cf. Eqs.(9,34)):

$$T=\frac{n1}{4\pi R}=T_{SH}^{}.$$
(38)
Next, let us compare the pair of expressions for the string tension. Recalling Eq.(19), we see that the CFT-inspired tension depends on an arbitrary parameter, $`C`$. Our approach will be to identify $`𝒯`$ with $`𝒯_{SH}^{}`$ (37) and use this relation to define $`C`$. (This ad hoc identification will be suitably be tested via the string-energy comparison to follow.) On this basis, we find:

$$C=\frac{n1}{2}.$$
(39)
It is interesting that $`C`$ is strictly a (dimensional-dependent) constant. This is in contrast to studies in an AdS and a dS bulk context, where the analogous parameter was found to depend directly on the horizon radius .

Finally, let us consider a comparison of the string energies. Substituting the above identity for $`C`$ into Eq.(18) for the CFT-inspired string energy, we obtain:

$$=\frac{n1}{n\omega _n}R^{n1},$$
(40)
where we have also incorporated Eq.(8). By way of the above and Eq.(36), it is now clear to see that:

$$=_{SH}^{},$$
(41)
thus establishing the thermodynamic equivalence of the two stringy theories.

To briefly summarize, we have demonstrated a precise correspondence between the renormalized thermodynamics of the stretched horizon and the thermodynamics of the (conjectured) conformal boundary theory. This duality suggests that the string which appears to live on the CFT boundary (cf. Eqs.(18,19)) is really just the string at the stretched horizon as viewed by a cosmological observer. Moreover, the observed correspondence adds support to the notion of a conformal boundary description of an asymptotically flat spacetime (given that analogous outcomes were obtained  with bulk spacetimes for which a CFT duality is well-established). The relative simplicity of the prior calculations may obscure the non-triviality of this outcome. Hence, let us emphasize that this pair of boundary theories has no a priori relationship.

As a final note in this section, we point out an agreement (up to an insignificant constant factor) between the “stringy energy” ($``$) and the total energy ($`E`$) of the CFT. This may seem a trivial outcome; however, no such agreement was found in the prior, related studies in an AdS and dS context . For instance, given an AdS-Schwarzschild bulk spacetime, these two energies were found to differ by $`E_E2E_C`$ (where $`E_E`$ is the purely extensive contribution to the energy of the CFT). Considering that this energy discrepancy was attributed to an ambiguity in defining conserved charges in an asymptotically AdS or dS background , it is quite encouraging that no such discrepancy arises in asymptotically flat spacetime (where conserved charges are unambiguously defined).

## 5 Conclusion

In summary, we have been studying some holographic aspects of an asymptotically flat spacetime of arbitrary dimensionality. In particular, we have focused on static, spherically symmetric bulk solutions admitting a single black hole horizon; that is, $`n`$+2-dimensional Schwarzschild black holes. The analysis formally began with a review of the pertinent bulk formalism, including the black hole thermodynamic expressions. After these preliminaries, we considered a pair of effective boundary theories; both of which have a conjectured duality with the black hole bulk spacetime. (We again point out that our treatment follows from a related paper by Halyo . Also see Ref..)

The first boundary theory of interest was a conformal field theory that lives on a timelike hypersurface of the asymptotically flat spacetime. Such a CFT is expected to be dually related to the bulk theory, presuming a well-defined flat-space limit of the AdS/CFT correspondence . On the basis of this proposed duality and a relevant study by Klemm et al. , we were able to identify various thermodynamic properties of the CFT and show that they satisfy a Cardy-Verlinde-like form . Moreover, we were able to demonstrate a linear relationship between the entropy and energy of the CFT. Significantly, this outcome implies that the CFT can also be interpreted as a string that lives on the associated cosmological boundary. On the basis of this stringy description, we identified an effective string tension and energy for the CFT.

The second boundary theory under consideration was based on one-to-one correspondence that has been conjectured between massive black holes and highly excited strings . This duality is most evident when one transforms the near-horizon geometry of a black hole into a Rindler-like form. Following this program, we are able to deduce the thermodynamic properties of a string that lives on the (so-called) stretched horizon of a Schwarzschild black hole. Although the stringy thermodynamic relations appear to differ from those of the associated black hole, it has convincingly been argued (for instance, ) that such discrepancies can be attributed to the long-range effects of the gravitational field.

In the final portion of this analysis, we compared the thermodynamic relations for this pair of effective boundary theories. For such a comparison, it was first necessary to rescale the thermodynamic properties of the stretched horizon. In particular, we invoked a coordinate transformation from Rindler time to “cosmological” time. In this way, both boundary theories could be viewed from the perspective of a common cosmological observer. It is interesting to note that the net effect of this rescaling is a significant renormalization of the tension, temperature and energy of the string at the stretched horizon. Such a renormalization can be attributed to the substantial gravitational red shift that arises between the horizon and a cosmological observation point .

Ultimately, we were able to demonstrate a precise equivalence between the renormalized thermodynamics of the stretched horizon and the thermodynamics of the “stringy CFT” (provided that an arbitrary parameter had been suitably fixed). These identifications included the temperature, string energy, string tension and, trivially, the entropy. This remarkable equivalence implies that the CFT thermodynamics can be re-interpreted as the renormalized thermodynamics of a string that lives nears the black hole horizon. Given that the two boundary theories are a priori unrelated, we find this identification to be considerably non-trivial.

In conclusion, the results of this paper appear to be particularly significant on two distinct levels; let us highlight these in turn. Firstly, we again point out the success of this general treatment for asymptotically dS , asymptotically AdS  and, now, asymptotically flat bulk scenarios. Hence, we are suitably positioned to extrapolate a universal link between CFTs on asymptotic boundaries and the thermodynamics of horizon-based strings. Ultimately, this link may help us understand why any relevant CFT entropy consistently conforms to a Cardy-like description . In this regard, it is interesting to take note of some prior studies by Carlip and Solodukhin . These authors demonstrated that a Cardy-like description of entropy is likely a universal characteristic of black hole (and black hole-like) geometries. Since all paths lead to the Cardy formula, one would expect that these various approaches are probing the same fundamental principle. Unfortunately, this principle may remain obscured (at least in the short run) by our semi-classical limitations in understanding gravity.

Secondly, let us consider our results in the context of the proposed flat space/CFT correspondence. Here, we again point out that our CFT thermodynamic framework was based, in large part, on a generalization of the Cardy-Verlinde formula for an asymptotically flat spacetime (viz. Klemm et al. ). That is to say, we first assumed the formula and then utilized it in defining the CFT thermodynamic properties. This is converse to the typical practice whereby one exploits the relevant duality (AdS/CFT or dS/CFT) in deriving the corresponding CFT thermodynamics. Thus, the holographic interpretation of the flat-space Cardy-Verlinde formula is somewhat unclear. However, the results of this paper would appear to support a holographic pedigree for this formula, given that similar outcomes have previously been achieved in scenarios having well-established dualities . In spite of our “success”, it would still be preferable to have this holographic connection established on a more rigorous level. Hopefully, this issue will be addressed in a future investigation.

## 6 Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank V.P. Frolov for helpful conversations.