利用 Black Hole Explorer 解析邻近超大质量黑洞

事件视界望远镜（Event Horizon Telescope, EHT）的成像能力为黑洞天体物理学带来了变革，但受限于地基甚长基线干涉测量（VLBI）的角分辨率，目前仅能观测两个源。拟议的 Black Hole Explorer（BHEX）任务旨在通过空间甚长基线干涉测量（space VLBI）显著提升角分辨率，从而实现对邻近超大质量黑洞（SMBH）群体的系统性研究。

arXiv:2608.16983v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Recent Event Horizon Telescope results have demonstrated unique and transformative science in gravitational physics and black hole astrophysics enabled by event-horizon-scale imaging of supermassive black holes (SMBHs). Nevertheless, the angular resolution of current ground-based very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) arrays limits such studies to only two sources, precluding systematic investigations of horizon-scale emission across a nearby SMBH population. The proposed Black Hole Explorer (BHEX), a millimeter/submillimeter space VLBI mission, would overcome this limitation by delivering substantially higher angular resolution. Here, we present a series of simulated observations to assess a population of nearby horizon-scale targets accessible with BHEX. Based on a recently developed SMBH number density model, we find that BHEX could infer black hole masses for ~70-90 sources from size measurements, constrain magnetic field structures through linear polarization imaging for ~20-30 sources, and resolve black hole shadows for ~20-25 sources. Targeted observations of ~50 nearby SMBHs are expected to yield measurements for ~30 source sizes and ~10 shadows and linear-polarization patterns. These projections are supported by detailed imaging simulations of general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) models for eleven nearby SMBHs. Together, our results highlight BHEX as a powerful facility for revealing the demographics of SMBH