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The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has led to the first images of a supermassive black hole, revealing the central compact objects in the elliptical galaxy M87 and the Milky Way. Proposed upgrades to this array through the next-generation EHT (ngEHT) program would sharply improve the angular resolution, dynamic range, and temporal coverage of the existing EHT observations. These improvements will uniquely enable a wealth of transformative new discoveries related to black hole science, extending from event-horizon-scale studies of strong gravity to studies of explosive transients to the cosmological growth and influence of supermassive black holes. Here, we present the key science goals for the ngEHT and their associated instrument requirements, both of which have been formulated through a multi-year international effort involving hundreds of scientists worldwide.

We present a case for significantly enhancing the utility and efficiency of the ngEHT by incorporating an additional 86 GHz observing band. In contrast to 230 or 345 GHz, weather conditions at the ngEHT sites are reliably good enough for 86 GHz to enable year-round observations. Multi-frequency imaging that incorporates 86 GHz observations would sufficiently augment the (u,v) coverage at 230 and 345 GHz to permit detection of the M87 jet structure without requiring EHT stations to join the array. The general calibration and sensitivity of the ngEHT would also be enhanced by leveraging frequency phase transfer techniques, whereby simultaneous observations at 86 GHz and higher-frequency bands have the potential to increase the effective coherence times from a few seconds to tens of minutes. When observation at the higher frequencies is not possible, there are opportunities for standalone 86 GHz science, such as studies of black hole jets and spectral lines. Finally, the addition of 86 GHz capabilities to the ngEHT would enable it to integrate into a community of other VLBI facilities—such as the GMVA and ngVLA—that are expected to operate at 86 GHz but not at the higher ngEHT observing frequencies.

(Sub) mm VLBI observations are strongly hindered by limited sensitivity, with the fast tropospheric fluctuations being the dominant culprit. We predict great benefits from applying next-generation frequency phase transfer calibration techniques for the next generation Event Horizon Telescope (ngEHT), using simultaneous multi-frequency observations. We present comparative simulation studies to characterise its performance, the optimum configurations, and highlight the benefits of including observations at 85 GHz along with the 230 and 340 GHz bands. The results show a transformational impact on the ngEHT array capabilities, with orders of magnitude improved sensitivity, observations routinely possible over the whole year, and ability to carry out micro-arcsecond astrometry measurements at the highest frequencies, amongst others. This will enable the addressing of a host of innovative open scientific questions in astrophysics. We present a solution for highly scatter-broadened sources such as SgrA*, a prime ngEHT target. We conclude that adding the 85 GHz band provides a pathway to an optimum and robust performance for ngEHT in sub-millimeter VLBI, and strongly recommmend its inclusion in the simultaneous multi-frequency receiver design.

The source-frequency phase-referencing (SFPR) technique has been demonstrated to have great advantages for mm-VLBI observations. By implementing simultaneous multi-frequency receiving systems on the next-generation Event Horizon Telescope (ngEHT) antennas, it is feasible to carry out a frequency phase transfer (FPT) which could calibrate the non-dispersive propagation errors and significantly increase the phase coherence in the visibility data. Such an increase offers an efficient approach for a weak source or structure detection. The SFPR also makes it possible for high-precision astrometry, including the core-shift measurements up to sub-mm wavelengths for Sgr A*, M 87*, etc. We also briefly discuss the technical and scheduling considerations for future SFPR observations with the ngEHT.

It is thought that dynamically important helical magnetic fields twisted by the differential rotation of the black hole’s accretion disk or ergosphere play an important role in the launching, acceleration, and collimation of active galactic nuclei (AGN) jets. We present multi-frequency astrometric and polarimetric Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) images at 15, 22, and 43 GHz, as well as Faraday rotation analyses of the jet in BL Lacertae as part of a sample of AGN jets aimed to probe the magnetic field structure at the innermost scales to test jet formation models. The novel astrometric technique applied allows us to obtain the absolute position at mm wavelengths without any external calibrator.

Simultaneous or near-simultaneous observations at multiple frequency bands have the potential to overcome the fundamental limitation imposed by the atmospheric propagation in mm-VLBI observations. The propagation effects place a severe limit in the sensitivity achievable in mm-VLBI, reducing the time over which the signals can be coherently combined, and preventing the use of phase referencing and astrometric measurements. We present two demonstrations of the power of (near) simultaneous multi-frequency observations with the KVN and VLBA, and our recently developed analysis strategies to enable new measurements at mm-VLBI. The first case comprises simultaneous observations at 22, 43, 87 and 130 GHz of a group of five AGNs, the weakest of which is ∼200 mJy at 130 GHz, with angular separations ranging from 3.6 to 11 degrees, using the KVN. We analysed this data using the Frequency Phase Transfer (FPT) and the Source Frequency Phase Referencing (SFPR) techniques, which use the observations at a lower frequency to correct those at a higher frequency. The results of the analysis provide an empirical demonstration of the increase in the coherence times at 130 GHz from a few tens of seconds to about twenty minutes, with FPT, and up to many hours with SFPR. Moreover the astrometric analysis provides high precision relative position measurements between two frequencies, including, for the first time, astrometry at 130 GHz. The second case is a variation of the above, whereby adding dedicated wide-band cm-wavelength observations to measure the ionosphere eliminates the need for a second, calibrator, source. This addresses the scarcity of calibrators at mm-VLBI. We dubbed this technique Multi Frequency Phase Referencing (MFPR). We present bona fide astrometrically aligned VLBA images of BL Lacertae at 22 and 43 GHz using MFPR, which, combined with results from conventional phase referencing at cm-wavelengths, suggests the VLBI core has a recollimation shock that is revealed at mm-wavelengths. These shocks could be responsible for the γ-ray emission in blazar jets.

In this paper we describe a new approach for millimeter Very Long Baseline Interferometry (mm-VLBI) calibration that provides bona-fide astrometric alignment of the millimeter-wavelength images from a single source, for the measurement of frequency-dependent effects, such as “core-shifts” near the black hole of active galactic nucleus jets. We achieve our astrometric alignment by solving first for the ionospheric (dispersive) contributions using wide-band centimeter-wavelength observations. Second, we solve for the tropospheric (non-dispersive) contributions by using fast frequency-switching at the target millimeter-wavelengths. These solutions can be scaled and transferred from low frequency to the high frequency. To complete the calibration chain an additional step is required to remove a residual constant phase offset on each antenna. The result is an astrometric calibration and the measurement of the core-shift between 22 and 43 GHz for the jet in BL Lacertae to be −8 ± 5, 20 ± 6 μas, in R.A. and decl., respectively. By comparison to conventional phase referencing at centimeter-wavelengths we are able to show that this core shift at millimeter-wavelengths is significantly less than what would be predicted by extrapolating the low-frequency result, which closely followed the predictions of the Blandford & Königl conical jet model. As such it would be the first demonstration for the association of the VLBI core with a recollimation shock, normally hidden at low frequencies due to the optical depth, which could be responsible for the γ-ray production in blazar jets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the first images of the v = 1 and v = 2 J = 1 → 0 SiO maser lines taken with KaVA, i.e., the combined array of the Korean Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) Network and the VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry (VERA), toward the OH/IR star WX Psc. The combination of long and short antenna baselines enabled us to detect a large number of maser spots, which exhibit a typical ring-like structure in both the v = 1 and v = 2 J = 1 → 0 SiO masers as those that have been found in previous VLBI observational results of WX Psc. The relative alignment of the v = 1 and v = 2 SiO maser spots are precisely derived from astrometric analysis, due to the absolute coordinates of the reference maser spot that were well determined in an independent astrometric observation with VERA. The superposition of the v = 1 and v = 2 maser spot maps shows a good spatial correlation between the v = 1 and v = 2 SiO maser features. Nevertheless, it is also shown that the v = 2 SiO maser spot is distributed in an inner region compared to the v = 1 SiO maser by about 0.5 mas on average. These results provide good support for the recent theoretical studies of the SiO maser pumping, in which both the collisional and the radiative pumping predict the strong spatial correlation and the small spatial discrepancy between the v = 1 and v = 2 SiO maser. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]