Techniques of Submm-VLBI: Observing an Event Horizon

多尔曼博士和他的团队将开发新的软件，将目前运行的毫米和亚毫米望远镜阵列连接在一起，形成一个单一的“望远镜”，工作频率为230GHz或1.3毫米。使用甚长基线干涉测量法，这组阵列将用于以20微弧秒的分辨率观测银河系中心，相当于地球与太阳距离的五分之一。多尔曼博士的团队将探测中心黑洞周围的区域，该区域的质量大约是太阳的400万倍，其史瓦西半径的几倍以内。他们将测量轨道气体的快速运动，并寻找被黑洞吞噬的物质团块的特征。该小组还将详细绘制黑洞产生的明亮的射电物质喷射流，测试其产生的理论模型。甚长基线干涉仪是一项基础技术，为这个问题开发的软件具有潜在的变革性，以非凡的分辨率开启了以前不可能的观测。该提案解决了围绕黑洞的基本物理问题，这是天文学和物理学的交集。博士后研究人员和研究生将在参与研究的技术和科学方面进行培训。参加干草堆天文台暑期本科生研究体验项目的本科生，以及参加教师研究体验项目的K-12科学教师，也将有机会从该项目中学习。

Dr. Doeleman and his group will develop new software that links currently operating millimeter and sub-millimeter telescope arrays together to form a single 'telescope' operating at 230GHz or 1.3mm. Using Very Long Baseline Interferometry, this set of arrays will be used to observe the Galactic center with 20 micro-arcsecond resolution, corresponding to only one-fifth of the Earth's distance from the Sun. Dr. Doeleman's group will probe the region around the central black hole, which has roughly 4 million times the Sun's mass, to within a few times its Schwarzschild radius. They will measure the rapid motions of orbiting gas, and search for signatures of blobs of material as they are swallowed the black hole. The group will also map in great detail the bright jet of radio-emitting material produced by the black hole, testing theoretical models for its production.Very Long Baseline Interferometery is a fundamental technique, and the software developed for this problem is potentially transformative, opening up previously impossible observations at extraordinary resolution. The proposal addresses fundamental questions of the physics around black holes, which lies at the intersection of astronomy and physics. Postdoctoral researchers and graduate students will be trained as they participate in both technical and scientific aspects of the research. Undergraduate students in the Haystack Observatory's summer Research Experience for Undergraduates program, and K-12 science teachers in the Research Experience for Teachers program, will also have the opportunity to learn from the project.