Next Steps for the Next Generation Event Horizon Telescope

The Science at the Horizons conference was comprised of at least 94 presentations and discussion sections, with over 500 participants from over 30 countries. Throughout this vibrant week of collaboration, we identified and refined fundamental ngEHT science goals, paving the way forward towards the next generation of EHT science. These goals include:

Cosmological assembly of most massive black holes (probably mergers)
Gravity ladder calibration: both spins and masses
Resolving final parsec binaries, if they exist
Measuring spin and spacetime tomography
New fundamental fields, such as ultralight fields and axions
Finding direct evidence of energy extraction from a black hole
Identifying important physics at the meso and micro scales, and adding new physics to simulations
Undersanding AGN variability with “fast” XRBs, empirical test of spin/BZ relation
High precision geodesy
Megamaser cosmology: spectral line observatory
GRB Follow-up

Moving forward, we plan to further refine the primary science drivers and observing requirements for the ngEHT. This will involve regular topical group meetings, shared ngEHT resources, a well-circulated ngEHT reference design, white papers for the ngEHT Science Book, and future ngEHT plenary meetings.

For those who would like to continue to engage with the ngEHT Science at the Horizons Conference:

The public presentation recordings can be viewed at the ngEHT Winter Science Meeting YouTube playlist.
Copies of the public presentations in PDF format can be found at the Public Science at the Horizons Meeting Files page.
Discussion with conference participants can continue in the ngEHT Slack channel.

Thank you to all the participants, speakers, and organizers who attended this meeting. We hope you feel as excited for the future of ngEHT science as we do.

Next Steps for the Next Generation Event Horizon Telescope

The Science at the Horizons Conference Photo

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The Science at the Horizons Conference Mosaic. Credit: Joseph Farah and BlackRainbow.

Conference Rationale and Summary

February 22-26, 2021

Please register to attend this meeting at https://forms.gle/iFEErcUmiDEDHyVh6.

Questions? Contact the local organizing committee (LOC) at ngeht-2021-loc@googlegroups.com

Slack Link: https://ngeht-2021.slack.com/ (invitation required)

Rationale: Release of the first black hole image on 10 April 2019 has highlighted new possibilities of using event horizon scale precision measurements to address fundamental questions in astronomy and physics. EHT results have already constrained exotic black hole alternatives, determined the mass and spin orientation of the M87 black hole, and revealed the black hole shadow predicted by General Relativity, with more results expected with continued observations. Through the addition of new telescopes and higher observing frequencies, a next-generation EHT (ngEHT) can be engineered with substantially improved imaging capabilities to achieve a broad range of transformative science goals related to black hole accretion, jet physics, and strong-field GR.

This ngEHT science meeting will bring together experts in black hole astrophysics and VLBI technology. We will discuss the driving science goals, and the algorithmic and technical developments that are required to achieve them. The ngEHT will require a global collaborative effort, so there will be opportunities to discuss coordination of international efforts with the aim of assembling a new instrument capable of visionary science within this decade.

This will be an online-only and open meeting with participation welcomed by experts from across the scientific community.

Conference topics will include:

Testing accretion modes and models for Sgr A* and M87.
Testing how black holes power relativistic jets.
Studies of flares with the ngEHT.
Tests of the Kerr metric: resolving the photon ring.
Beyond Sgr A* and M87: Expanded source populations with the ngEHT.
Multi-messenger science with the ngEHT.
Scientific opportunities with a space-enhanced array.
Next-generation simulations of black hole accretion flows.
Next-generation algorithms for interferometric imaging.
Prospects for higher-frequency VLBI and multi-frequency observations.
ngEHT concept, architecture, and optimization.

LOC: Lindy Blackburn, Nick Conroy (co-Chair), Mina Himwich, Britt Jeter (co-Chair), Tiffany Nichols, Daniel Palumbo, Alex Raymond, Paul Tiede.

SOC: Geoff Bower, Avery Broderick (co-Chair), Alessandra Buonanno, Vitor Cardoso, Shep Doeleman, Charles Gammie, Daryl Haggard, David Hughes, Michael Johnson (co-Chair), Chung-Pei Ma, Ramesh Narayan, Ue-Li Pen, Andy Strominger, Anton Zensus.

Conference Highlights

Confirmed Speakers Include:

Asimina Arvanitaki, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Alex Lupsasca, Princeton University
Alex Tetarenko, East Asian Observatory
Enrico Barausse, International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA)
Sarah Burke-Spolaor, West Virginia University
Eliot Quataert, Princeton University & University of California, Berkeley
Frank Eisenhauer, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
George Wong, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Huan Yang, University of Guelph & Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Paolo Pani, Sapienza University of Rome
Jean-Pierre Luminet, French National Centre for Scientific Research
Rob Fender, University of Oxford
Matt Lister, Purdue University
Sera Markoff, University of Amsterdam
Silke Britzen, Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy
Alberto Sesana, University of Milano-Bicocca
Sasha Tchekhovskoy, Northwestern University
Sasha Philippov, Flatiron Institute
Jonelle Walsh, Texas A&M University
Andrew Chael, Princeton University
Neil Nagar, University of Concepción
Roger Blandford, Stanford University

Conference Schedule

You can find the block schedule below. The full schedule can be downloaded here.

Support for the ngEHT includes grants from the National Science Foundation, John Templeton Foundation, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.