Related papers: Reference Array and Design Consideration for the n…

We outline our plan to develop ProtoEXIST, a balloon-borne prototype experiment for the Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope (EXIST) for the Black Hole Finder Probe. EXIST will consist of multiple wide-field hard X-ray coded-aperture…

X-rays are a critical wavelength for understanding supermassive black holes (SMBHs). X-rays probe the inner accretion flow, closest to the event horizon, where gas inspirals, releasing energy and driving black hole growth. This region also…

We examine the justification for taking the Event Horizon Telescope's famous 2019 image to be a reliable representation of the region surrounding a black hole. We argue that it takes the form of a robustness argument, with the resulting…

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is intended as the next-generation radio telescope and will address fundamental questions in astrophysics, physics, and astrobiology. The international science community has developed a set of Key Science…

This document describes some of the fundamental astrophysical problems that require observing capabilities at millimeter- and centimeter wavelengths well beyond those of existing, or already planned, telescopes. The results summarized in…

The Black Hole Explorer (BHEX) is a next-generation space very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) mission concept that will extend the ground-based millimeter/submillimeter arrays into space. The mission, closely aligned with the science…

We present a baseline science operations plan for the Black Hole Explorer (BHEX), a space mission concept aiming to confirm the existence of the predicted sharp ``photon ring" resulting from strongly lensed photon trajectories around black…

We present techniques and methods for analyzing the dynamics of event horizons in numerically constructed spacetimes. There are three classes of analytical tools we have investigated. The first class consists of proper geometrical measures…

The Event Horizon Telescope is a global very-long baseline interferometer capable of probing potential deviations from the Kerr metric, which is believed to provide the unique description of astrophysical black holes. Here we report an…

The horizon-scale images of supermassive black holes (BHs) by the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration (EHT) have provided new opportunities to test general relativity and other theories of gravity. In view of future projects, such as the…

AGN-launched jets are a crucial element in the study of supermassive black holes (SMBH) and their closest surroundings. The formation of such jets, whether they are launched by magnetic field lines anchored to the accretion disc or directly…

Tidal disruption events (TDEs) of stars by single or binary supermassive black holes (SMBHs) brighten galactic nuclei and reveal a population of otherwise dormant black holes. Adopting event rates from the literature, we aim to establish…

Global VLBI imaging at millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelength overcomes the opacity barrier of synchrotron self-absorption in AGN and opens the direct view into sub-pc scale regions not accessible before. Since AGN variability is more…

The goal of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is to provide spatially resolved images of Sgr A*, the source associated with the Galactic Center black hole. Because Sgr A* varies on timescales short compared to an EHT observing campaign, it…

Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) can capture and tidally disrupt stars or sub-stellar objects orbiting nearby. The detections of Sw J1644+57-like events suggest that at least some TDEs can launch a relativistic jet beaming towards Earth. A…

This work proposes a methodology to test phenomenologically-motivated emission processes that account for the flux and polarization distribution and global structure of the 230 GHz sources imaged by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT):…

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has mapped the central compact radio source of the elliptical galaxy M87 at 1.3 mm with unprecedented angular resolution. Here we consider the physical implications of the asymmetric ring seen in the 2017…

This chapter describes the prospects for detecting the first black holes in our Universe, with a specific focus on instruments/telescopes that will come online within the next decade, including e.g. the SKA, WFIRST, EUCLID, JWST, and large…

The Black Hole Explorer (BHEX), an orbiting, multi-band, millimeter radio-telescope, in hybrid combination with millimeter terrestrial radio-telescopes, is designed to discover and measure the thin photon ring around the supermassive black…

The tidal disruption and subsequent accretion of a star by a supermassive black hole can be used as a laboratory to study the physics of relativistic jets. The ngVLA is the only planned instrument that can both discover and characterize a…