Expanding the Horizon of Black Hole Imaging with AtLAST

TL;DR

This paper discusses how future upgrades to the Event Horizon Telescope, especially with AtLAST, will significantly expand black hole imaging capabilities, enabling studies of diverse black hole populations and physics.

Contribution

It proposes integrating AtLAST with EHT to enhance sensitivity and multi-frequency observations, broadening the scope of black hole imaging and research.

Findings

Enhanced sensitivity will allow imaging of more black holes.

Multi-frequency capabilities enable detailed physics studies.

Expanded black hole demographics will improve understanding of growth and jets.

Abstract

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has directly resolved and imaged two supermassive black holes and opening a new window on black hole physics. However, the current array is limited to only these two brightest nearby targets. This white paper outlines how future EHT upgrades, anchored by the Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST), will enable a transformative expansion of the accessible population of event-horizon-scale sources. By substantially improving sensitivity and multi-frequency capabilities, EHT+AtLAST will enable demographic studies of black hole growth, accretion physics, and jet launching across a wide range of masses, environments, and accretion states.