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The Black Hole Explorer: Motivation and Vision
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The Black Hole Explorer: Motivation and Vision
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We present the Black Hole Explorer (BHEX), a mission that will produce the sharpest images in the history of astronomy by extending submillimeter Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) to space. BHEX will discover and measure the bright and narrow "photon ring" that is predicted to exist in images of black holes, produced from light that has orbited the black hole before escaping. This discovery will expose universal features of a black hole's spacetime that are distinct from the complex astrophysics of the emitting plasma, allowing the first direct measurements of a supermassive black hole's spin. In addition to studying the properties of the nearby supermassive black holes M87* and Sgr A*, BHEX will measure the properties of dozens of additional supermassive black holes, providing crucial insights into the processes that drive their creation and growth. BHEX will also connect these supermassive black holes to their relativistic jets, elucidating the power source for the brightest and most efficient engines in the universe. BHEX will address fundamental open questions in the physics and astrophysics of black holes that cannot be answered without submillimeter space VLBI. The mission is enabled by recent technological breakthroughs, including the development of ultra-high-speed downlink using laser communications, and it leverages billions of dollars of existing ground infrastructure. We present the motivation for BHEX, its science goals and associated requirements, and the pathway to launch within the next decade.
Forward citations
Cited by 14 Pith papers
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Approximating the Fourier Transform of Ring-Like Images: the Focal Expansion
A focal expansion approximates the Hankel transforms of angular modes to give a single accurate Fourier transform for ring-like images across all spatial frequencies.
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Black hole mergers beyond general relativity: a self-force approach
Self-force theory is extended to compute merger and ringdown waveforms in beyond-GR black hole binaries under the extreme mass-ratio approximation, with first calculations of self-force corrections to the merger waveform.
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Black Hole Ringdown Seen in Photon Polarization Swings
Polarization angle swings in photons near a Kerr black hole during ringdown lock in time to quasi-normal modes with amplitudes up to about 10 degrees.
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Photon rings and shadows of black holes with non-minimal couplings between curvature and electromagnetic field
Three distinct non-minimal curvature-EM couplings produce different enlargements or reductions of black hole shadows and alter photon ring separations in characteristic ways.
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Relative Magnification Factor of Point Sources on Accretion Disks
Corotating point sources on accretion disks near black holes distort the relative magnification factor distribution, modulating caustics and encoding accretion flow kinematics via time-delayed images.
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Approximating the Fourier Transform of Ring-Like Images: the Focal Expansion
A focal expansion approximates Hankel transforms of ring-like images with one formula that stays accurate from low to high spatial frequencies.
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Constraints on High-Frequency Gravitational Waves from Graviton-Photon Conversion in the M87 Galaxy
Graviton–photon conversion in M87's magnetic field sets h_c and Ωgw h² limits 1–5 orders of magnitude tighter than Milky Way-based bounds across 10^10–10^27 Hz.
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Critical Behavior of Photon Rings in Kerr-Bertotti-Robinson Spacetime
For a magnetized Kerr-Bertotti-Robinson black hole, the photon-ring parameters gamma, delta, and tau all decrease compared with the unmagnetized Kerr case, weakening the self-similar stacking of higher-order images.
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Ring Position Angles and Spin in M87* and Sgr A*
GRMHD models show PA1 aligns with the approaching limb for high spins, enabling mild disfavoring of low spins and strong disfavoring of Earth-pointing spins in M87* from EHT data, with similar potential for Sgr A*.
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$\tt BlackHawk$ $\tt v3.0$: Hawking Radiation from Regular Black Holes
BlackHawk v3.0 adds Hawking temperatures and greybody factors for multiple regular black hole metrics to an existing public code via numerical routines.
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Probing Lorentz-violating effects via precession and accretion disk images of a rotating bumblebee black hole
Lorentz violation in a rotating bumblebee black hole suppresses Lense-Thirring precession, increases periastron precession, shrinks the inner shadow, and enhances the lensed ring while leaving the critical curve nearl...
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Ellis-Bronnikov Wormhole Shadows with Spherically Symmetric Accretion Flow
GRRT simulations of spherically symmetric accretion show the Ellis-Bronnikov wormhole yields brighter shadow and photon ring than Schwarzschild, both consistent with EHT M87* data.
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Black hole spectroscopy: from theory to experiment
A review summarizing the state of the art in black hole quasinormal modes, ringdown waveform modeling, current LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observations, and prospects for LISA and next-generation detectors.
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Signatures of Black Hole Spin in Horizon-Scale Polarimetry
A review of horizon-scale polarized imaging concludes that current EHT data pin down magnetic-field geometry and accretion state more reliably than black-hole spin magnitude or direction.
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