First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. II. Array and Instrumentation

descriptionPublicationkeyboard_double_arrow_right Article , Preprint 10 Apr 2019Embargo end date: 01 Jan 2019 Italy, Korea (Republic of), Netherlands, Italy, United States, South Africa, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Finland, United Kingdom, Netherlands, France, Netherlands, Italy, United States, Netherlands Publisher:American Astronomical SocietyJournal:The Astrophysical Journal Letters, volume 875, page L2 (issn: 2041-8205, eissn: 2041-8213,

Copyright policy )Funded by:NSF | PSCIC Full Proposal: The ..., NSERC | unidentified, NSF | Graduate Research Fellows... +15 projects

Authors: The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration; Kazunori Akiyama; Antxon Alberdi; Walter Alef; Keiichi Asada; Rebecca Azulay; Anne-Kathrin Baczko; +193 Authors

The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration; Kazunori Akiyama; Antxon Alberdi; Walter Alef; Keiichi Asada; Rebecca Azulay; Anne-Kathrin Baczko; David Ball; Mislav Baloković; John Barrett; Dan Bintley; Lindy Blackburn; Wilfred Boland; Katherine L. Bouman; Geoffrey C. Bower; Michael Bremer; Christiaan D. Brinkerink; Roger Brissenden; Silke Britzen; Avery E. Broderick; Dominique Broguiere; Thomas Bronzwaer; Do-Young Byun; John E. Carlstrom; Andrew Chael; Chi-kwan Chan; Shami Chatterjee; Koushik Chatterjee; Ming-Tang Chen; Yongjun Chen; Ilje Cho; Pierre Christian; John E. Conway; James M. Cordes; Geoffrey B. Crew; Yuzhu Cui; Jordy Davelaar; Mariafelicia De Laurentis; Roger Deane; Jessica Dempsey; Gregory Desvignes; Jason Dexter; Sheperd S. Doeleman; Ralph P. Eatough; Heino Falcke; Vincent L. Fish; Ed Fomalont; Raquel Fraga-Encinas; Per Friberg; Christian M. Fromm; José L. Gómez; Peter Galison; Charles F. Gammie; Roberto García; Olivier Gentaz; Boris Georgiev; Ciriaco Goddi; Roman Gold; Minfeng Gu; Mark Gurwell; Kazuhiro Hada; Michael H. Hecht; Ronald Hesper; Luis C. Ho; Paul Ho; Mareki Honma; Chih-Wei L. Huang; Lei Huang; David H. Hughes; Shiro Ikeda; Makoto Inoue; Sara Issaoun; David J. James; Buell T. Jannuzi; Michael Janssen; Britton Jeter; Wu Jiang; Michael D. Johnson; Svetlana Jorstad; Taehyun Jung; Mansour Karami; Ramesh Karuppusamy; Tomohisa Kawashima; Garrett K. Keating; Mark Kettenis; Jae-Young Kim; Junhan Kim; Jongsoo Kim; Motoki Kino; Jun Yi Koay; Patrick M. Koch; Shoko Koyama; Michael Kramer; Carsten Kramer; Thomas P. Krichbaum; Cheng-Yu Kuo; Tod R. Lauer; Sang-Sung Lee; Yan-Rong Li; Zhiyuan Li; Michael Lindqvist; Kuo Liu; Elisabetta Liuzzo; Wen-Ping Lo; Andrei P. Lobanov; Laurent Loinard; Colin Lonsdale; Ru-Sen Lu; Nicholas R. MacDonald; Jirong Mao; Sera Markoff; Daniel P. Marrone; Alan P. Marscher; Iván Martí-Vidal; Satoki Matsushita; Lynn D. Matthews; Lia Medeiros; Karl M. Menten; Yosuke Mizuno; Izumi Mizuno; James M. Moran; Kotaro Moriyama; Monika Moscibrodzka; Cornelia Müller; Hiroshi Nagai; Neil M. Nagar; Masanori Nakamura; Ramesh Narayan; Gopal Narayanan; Iniyan Natarajan; Roberto Neri; Chunchong Ni; Aristeidis Noutsos; Hiroki Okino; Héctor Olivares; Gisela N. Ortiz-León; Tomoaki Oyama; Feryal Özel; Daniel C. M. Palumbo; Nimesh Patel; Ue-Li Pen; Dominic W. Pesce; Vincent Piétu; Richard Plambeck; Aleksandar PopStefanija; Oliver Porth; Ben Prather; Jorge A. Preciado-López; Dimitrios Psaltis; Hung-Yi Pu; Venkatessh Ramakrishnan; Ramprasad Rao; Mark G. Rawlings; Alexander W. Raymond; Luciano Rezzolla; Bart Ripperda; Freek Roelofs; Alan Rogers; Eduardo Ros; Mel Rose; Arash Roshanineshat; Helge Rottmann; Alan L. Roy; Chet Ruszczyk; Benjamin R. Ryan; Kazi L. J. Rygl; Salvador Sánchez; David Sánchez-Arguelles; Mahito Sasada; Tuomas Savolainen; F. Peter Schloerb; Karl-Friedrich Schuster; Lijing Shao; Zhiqiang Shen; Des Small; Bong Won Sohn; Jason SooHoo; Fumie Tazaki; Paul Tiede; Remo P. J. Tilanus; Michael Titus; Kenji Toma; Pablo Torne; Tyler Trent; Sascha Trippe; Shuichiro Tsuda; Ilse van Bemmel; Huib Jan van Langevelde; Daniel R. van Rossum; Jan Wagner; John Wardle; Jonathan Weintroub; Norbert Wex; Robert Wharton; Maciek Wielgus; George N. Wong; Qingwen Wu; André Young; Ken Young; Ziri Younsi;

First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. II. Array and Instrumentation

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Abstract

Abstract The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is a very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) array that comprises millimeter- and submillimeter-wavelength telescopes separated by distances comparable to the diameter of the Earth. At a nominal operating wavelength of ∼1.3 mm, EHT angular resolution (λ/D) is ∼25 μas, which is sufficient to resolve nearby supermassive black hole candidates on spatial and temporal scales that correspond to their event horizons. With this capability, the EHT scientific goals are to probe general relativistic effects in the strong-field regime and to study accretion and relativistic jet formation near the black hole boundary. In this Letter we describe the system design of the EHT, detail the technology and instrumentation that enable observations, and provide measures of its performance. Meeting the EHT science objectives has required several key developments that have facilitated the robust extension of the VLBI technique to EHT observing wavelengths and the production of instrumentation that can be deployed on a heterogeneous array of existing telescopes and facilities. To meet sensitivity requirements, high-bandwidth digital systems were developed that process data at rates of 64 gigabit s−1, exceeding those of currently operating cm-wavelength VLBI arrays by more than an order of magnitude. Associated improvements include the development of phasing systems at array facilities, new receiver installation at several sites, and the deployment of hydrogen maser frequency standards to ensure coherent data capture across the array. These efforts led to the coordination and execution of the first Global EHT observations in 2017 April, and to event-horizon-scale imaging of the supermassive black hole candidate in M87.

Countries

Italy, Korea (Republic of), Netherlands, Italy, United States, South Africa, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Finland, United Kingdom, Netherlands, France, Netherlands, Italy, United States, Netherlands

Related Organizations

National Institutes of Natural Sciences
Japan
Spanish National Research Council
Spain
Hiroshima University
Japan
Seoul National University
Korea (Republic of)
University of Massachusetts Amherst
United States

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Keywords

Gravitational lensing: strong, Astronomy, black hole physics, galaxies: individual, Astrophysics, strong [Gravitational lensing], General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology, black hole physics – galaxies: individual (M87) – Galaxy: center – gravitational lensing: strong – instrumentation: interferometers – techniques: high angular resolution, Galaxies: individual (M87), Very long baseline interferometry (VLBI), instrumentation: interferometers, High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE), Galaxy: center, black hole physics; galaxies: individual (M87); Galaxy: center; gravitational lensing: strong; instrumentation: interferometers; techniques: high angular resolution, gravitational lensing: strong, center [Galaxy], 520, QB460-466, Astronomy & astrophysics, Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics, Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, 330, FOS: Physical sciences, General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc), galaxies: individual: M87, 530, galaxies: individual (M87), Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), Techniques: high angular resolution, FIS/05 - ASTRONOMIA E ASTROFISICA, Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM), Astronomical and space sciences, techniques: high angular resolution, interferometers [Instrumentation], Black hole physics, black hole physics â€“ galaxies: individual (M87) â€“ Galaxy: center â€“ gravitational lensing: strong â€“ instrumentation: interferometers â€“ techniques: high angular resolution, individual (M87) [Galaxies], Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies, echniques: high angular resolution, high angular resolution [Techniques], Black hole physics; Galaxies: individual (M87); Galaxy: center; Gravitational lensing: strong; Instrumentation: interferometers; Techniques: high angular resolution, Instrumentation: interferometers, Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA), [PHYS.ASTR] Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]

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