The science case and challenges of spaceborne sub-millimeter interferometry: the study case of TeraHertz Exploration and Zooming-in for Astrophysics (THEZA)
Paper in proceeding, 2021

Ultra-high angular resolution in astronomy has always been an important vehicle for making fundamental discoveries. Recent results in direct imaging of the vicinity of the super-massive black hole in the nucleus of the radio galaxy M87 by the millimeter VLBI system Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) and various pioneering results of the Space VLBI mission RadioAstron provided new momentum in high angular resolution astrophysics. In both mentioned cases, the angular resolution reached the values of about 10−20 microrcseconds (0.05−0.1 nanoradian). Angular resolution is proportional to the observing wavelength and inversely proportional to the interferometer baseline length. In the case of Earth-based EHT, the highest angular resolution was achieved by combining the shortest possible wavelength of 1.3 mm with the longest possible baselines, comparable to the Earth’s diameter. For RadioAstron, operational wavelengths were in the range from 92 cm down to 1.3 cm, but the baselines were as long as ∼350,000 km. However, these two highlights of radio astronomy, EHT and RadioAstron do not”saturate” the interest to further increase in angular resolution. Quite opposite: the science case for further increase in angular resolution of astrophysical studies becomes even stronger. A natural and, in fact, the only possible way of moving forward is to enhance mm/sub-mm VLBI by extending baselines to extraterrestrial dimensions, i.e. creating a mm/sub-mm Space VLBI system. The inevitable move toward space-borne mm/sub-mm VLBI is a subject of several concept studies. In this presentation we will focus on one of them called TeraHertz Exploration and Zooming-in for Astrophysics (THEZA), prepared in response to the ESA’s call for its next major science program Voyage 2050 (Gurvits et al. 2021). The THEZA rationale is focused at the physics of spacetime in the vicinity of super-massive black holes as the leading science drive. However, it will also open up a sizable new range of hitherto unreachable parameters of observational radio astrophysics and create a multi-disciplinary scientific facility and offer a high degree of synergy with prospective “single dish” space-borne sub-mm astronomy (e.g., Wiedner et al. 2021) and infrared interferometry (e.g., Linz et al. 2021). As an amalgam of several major trends of modern observational astrophysics, THEZA aims at facilitating a breakthrough in high-resolution high image quality astronomical studies.

VLBI

Spaceborne astrophysics

Radio interferometry

Mm- and sub-mm astronomy

Author

L. I. Gurvits

Delft University of Technology

Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)

Z. Paragi

Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)

Ricardo I. Amils

Yebes Observatory

I. van Bemmel

Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)

Paul Boven

Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)

V. Casasola

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

John Conway

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory

Other publications Research

Jordy Davelaar

Columbia University

Flatiron Institute

M. Carmen Díez-González

Yebes Observatory

H.D. Falcke

Radboud University

R. P. Fender

University of Oxford

Sándor Frey

Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)

Christian M. Fromm

Goethe University Frankfurt

Juan D. Gallego-Puyol

Yebes Observatory

Cristina García-Miró

Yebes Observatory

M. A. Garrett

Leiden University

University of Manchester

M. Giroletti

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

C. Goddi

Radboud University

J. L. Gomez

Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA)

Jeffrey van der Gucht

Radboud University

J. C. Guirado

Universitat de Valencia

Zoltán Haiman

Columbia University

F. Helmich

University of Groningen

Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON)

Ben Hudson

KISPE Space Systems Limited

E. Humphreys

European Southern Observatory (ESO)

C. M. V. Impellizzeri

Leiden University

Michael Janssen

Max Planck Society

Michael D. Johnson

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Harvard University

Yuri Y. Kovalev

Russian Academy of Sciences

Max Planck Society

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology

M. Kramer

Max Planck Society

Michael Lindqvist

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory

Other publications Research

H. Linz

Max Planck Society

Elisabetta Liuzzo

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

A. P. Lobanov

Max Planck Society

I. Lopez-Fernandez

Yebes Observatory

Inmaculada Malo-Gómez

Yebes Observatory

Kunal Masania

Delft University of Technology

Yosuke Mizuno

Goethe University Frankfurt

Alexander V. Plavin

Russian Academy of Sciences

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology

Raj T. Rajan

Delft University of Technology

Luciano Rezzolla

Goethe University Frankfurt

F. Roelofs

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Eduardo Ros

Max Planck Society

Kazi L.J. Rygl

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

T. Savolainen

Aalto University

Max Planck Society

K. Schuster

Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM)

T. Venturi

Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)

Harro Verkouter

Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)

P. de Vicente

Yebes Observatory

Pieter N.A.M. Visser

Delft University of Technology

M.C. Wiedner

Paris Observatory

M. Wielgus

Max Planck Society

K. Wiik

Tuorla Observatory

A.J. Zensus

Max Planck Society

Proceedings of the International Astronautical Congress, IAC

00741795 (ISSN)

Vol. A7
9781713843009 (ISBN)

IAF Symposium on Ongoing and Near Future Space Astronomy and Solar-System Science Missions 2021 at the 72nd International Astronautical Congress, IAC 2021
Dubai, United Arab Emirates,

Subject Categories

Accelerator Physics and Instrumentation

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

Other Physics Topics

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10/10/2023

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