Orbital configurations of spaceborne interferometers for studying photon rings of supermassive black holes

Abstract

Recent advances in technology coupled with the progress of observational radio astronomy methods resulted in achieving a major milestone of astrophysics - a direct image of the shadow of a supermassive black hole, taken by the Earth-based Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). The EHT was able to achieve a resolution of $\sim$20 $\mu$as, enabling it to resolve the shadows of the black holes in the centres of two celestial objects: the supergiant elliptical galaxy M87 and the Milky Way Galaxy. The EHT results mark the start of a new round of development of next generation Very Long Baseline Interferometers (VLBI) which will be able to operate at millimetre and sub-millimetre wavelengths. The inclusion of baselines exceeding the diameter of the Earth and observation at as short a wavelength as possible is imperative for further development of high resolution astronomical observations. This can be achieved by a spaceborne VLBI system. We consider the preliminary mission design of such a system, specifically focused on the detection and analysis of photon rings, an intrinsic feature of supermassive black holes. Optimised Earth, Sun-Earth L2 and Earth-Moon L2 orbit configurations for the space interferometer system are presented, all of which provide an order of magnitude improvement in resolution compared to the EHT. Such a space-borne interferometer would be able to conduct a comprehensive survey of supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei and enable uniquely robust and accurate tests of strong gravity, through detection of the photon ring features.