Related papers: To Probe a Black Hole
High-resolution imaging of supermassive black holes is now possible, with new applications to testing general relativity and horizon-scale accretion and relativistic jet formation processes. Over the coming decade, the EHT will propose to…
Horizon-scale imaging with the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has provided transformative insights into supermassive black holes but its resolution and scope are limited by ground-based constraints such as the size of the Earth, its…
General relativity's prediction that all black holes are described by the Kerr metric, irrespective of their size, can now be empirically tested using electromagnetic observations of supermassive black holes and gravitational waves from…
Horizon-scale imaging of supermassive black holes has opened a new window onto the studies of strong-field gravity and plasma physics in low-luminosity accretion flows. As future efforts aim to image fainter and smaller angular-size…
Idealized models are used to illustrate the potential of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) as a probe of the largely unknown population of cosmologically-distant Massive Black Holes (MBHs) and as a tool to measure their masses…
Radio observations with Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) provide the highest resolution in astronomy. Combining earth-bound with space-based telescopes and advancing the observations to mm-wavelengths increases the resolution even…
Dynamical mass measurements to date have allowed determinations of the mass M and the distance D of a number of nearby supermassive black holes. In the case of Sgr A*, these measurements are limited by a strong correlation between the mass…
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) recently produced the first horizon-scale image of a supermassive black hole. Expanding the array to include a 3-meter space telescope operating at >200 GHz enables mass measurements of many black holes,…
Very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) at millimeter (mm) wavelengths is being employed to resolve event-horizon scale structure of the environment surrounding the Milky-Way black hole, at an angular resolution of a few tens of…
Millimeter-wavelength VLBI observations of the supermassive black holes in Sgr A* and M87 by the Event Horizon Telescope could potentially trace the dynamics of ejected plasma blobs in real time. We demonstrate that the trajectory and tidal…
Black holes hold a tremendous discovery potential. In this paper the extent to which the Event Horizon Telescope and its next generation upgrade can resolve their structure is quantified. Black holes are characterized by a perfectly…
Since its observation in 2019, the first image of a super-massive black hole using Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) with an Earth-scale baseline has generated much scientific and public interest, including the possible extension of…
We are using the VLBA at 8 GHz to observe a sample of 834 nearby 2MASS galaxies that are stronger than 100 mJy in the NVSS. The goals of the project are to detect (1) supermassive black holes significantly offset from the IR positions of…
Black hole images obtained by very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) by the Event Horizon Telescope are a new tool for testing general relativity in super-strong gravitational fields. These images demonstrated a ring-like structure which…
The sub/millimeter wavelengths (86-690 GHz) very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) will provide $\sim5-40\ \mu$as angular resolution, $\sim10$ mJy baseline sensitivity, and $\sim 1\ \mu$as/yr proper motion precision, which can directly…
Recent advances in technology coupled with the progress of observational radio astronomy methods resulted in achieving a major milestone of astrophysics - a direct image of the shadow of a supermassive black hole, taken by the Earth-based…
We discuss the technique of Wide-field imaging as it applies to Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). In the past VLBI data sets were usually averaged so severely that the field-of-view was typically restricted to regions extending a…
Gravitational wave observations will be excellent tools for making precise measurements of processes that occur in very strong-field regions of spacetime. Extreme mass ratio systems, formed by the capture of a stellar mass body compact by a…
Photon rings near the edge of a black hole shadow is supposed to be a unique tool to validate general relativity and provide reliable measurements of principal black hole parameters: spin and mass. Such measurements are possible though only…
High precision astrometric Space Very Long Baseline Interferometry (S-VLBI) at the low end of the conventional frequency range, i.e. 20cm, is a requirement for a number of high priority science goals. These are headlined by obtaining…