Invited Presentation

Next-Generation Science and the Role of JCMT in EHT and BHEX

Author(s): Kazunori Akiyama (Heriot-Watt University)

Presenter: Kazunori Akiyama (Heriot-Watt University)

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is a premier facility for exploring the Universe at the highest angular resolution, utilising a global short-/sub-millimetre VLBI array that includes JCMT. EHT has opened a new era in black hole astrophysics with its landmark results, including the first horizon-scale images of two supermassive black holes, M87* and Sgr A*, as well as spatio-temporally resolved studies of the dynamics and magnetic field structures near the event horizon.

The EHT community envisions a next generation of black hole science enabled by substantial upgrades, including multi-frequency capabilities and extensions of the array on the ground and in space, such as the proposed Black Hole Explorer (BHEX) mission. JCMT, a key station since the inception of EHT, has been identified as remaining critical to next-generation EHT arrays.

This talk will outline the current and future EHT science and discuss the roles of JCMT in next-generation EHT arrays, including ground-based upgrades and space extensions such as BHEX. I will also briefly address the role of JCMT in the UK context, which is becoming increasingly important for the emerging EHT community in the country.