Building the Event Horizon Telescope: Observing Black Holes with Schwarzschild Radius Resolution

建造事件视界望远镜：用史瓦西半径分辨率观测黑洞

• 批准号: 1835254
• 负责人: Sheperd Doeleman
• 金额: $ 43.17万
• 依托单位: Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical Observatory
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-07-01 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1835254&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Building; Event; Horizon; Telescope; Observing

There is a massive black hole at the center of our galaxy, and similar objects at the centers of other galaxies, objects that distort spacetime by the strength of their immense gravitational fields. Spatially, a black hole is phenomenally compact. Nonetheless, Dr. Doeleman and his colleagues, utilizing the combined millimeter-wave radio signals from an array of radiotelescopes located on different continents, will image the event horizon of a black hole. The combination of high frequency and long interferometer baselines will produce an unprecedented high spatial resolution, and this project presents a scientifically compelling way to utilize it.The project will develop broadband very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) instrumentation matched to the millimeter- and submillimeter-wave receivers now in use at radiotelescopes suitable for use in the intercontinental array. With commercially available digital signal processing devices incorporated into custom systems, the instrumentation to be built will achieve 8 GHz of bandwidth in each polarization. That broad bandwidth is critical for maximizing system sensitivity. The resulting VLBI network will achieve, at 1.3 mm wavelength, tens of microarcseconds of angular resolution on the sky. Earlier observations by this team have measured structure on the scale of the Schwarzschild radius of the black hole at the center of our galaxy, and this project plans to observe and image the actual black hole event horizon.The hardware developed under this program will be made available to the astronomy community. High-school teachers, undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows will be involved in the research program. Valuable hands-on training in instrumentation will be provided that will be valuable on other modern radiotelescopes. Funding for this project is being provided by NSF's Division of Astronomical Sciences through its Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation program.

在我们银河系的中心有一个巨大的黑洞，在其他星系的中心也有类似的物体，这些物体通过它们巨大的引力场的力量扭曲了时空。在空间上，黑洞是非常致密的。尽管如此，多勒曼博士和他的同事们利用来自不同大陆的射电望远镜阵列的毫米波无线电信号，将对黑洞的视界进行成像。高频率和长干涉仪基线的结合将产生前所未有的高空间分辨率，该项目提供了一种科学的令人信服的方法来利用它。该项目将开发宽带超长基线干涉测量（VLBI）仪器，与目前在适合洲际阵列使用的射电望远镜上使用的毫米波和亚毫米波接收器相匹配。通过将商用数字信号处理设备集成到定制系统中，要构建的仪器将在每个极化中实现8 GHz的带宽。这种宽带宽对于最大化系统灵敏度至关重要。由此产生的VLBI网络将在1.3毫米波长下实现数十微弧秒的天空角分辨率。这个团队早期的观测已经测量了银河系中心黑洞史瓦西半径的结构，而这个项目计划观察和成像实际的黑洞事件视界。在这个项目下开发的硬件将提供给天文学界。高中教师、本科生、研究生和博士后将参与研究项目。将提供宝贵的仪器操作培训，这在其他现代射电望远镜上是宝贵的。该项目由美国国家科学基金会天文科学部通过其先进技术和仪器计划提供资金。