Towards high-performance mm-VLBI science operations with multi-band receivers

Multifrequency VLBI detection of supermassive black hole binaries at millimeter wavelengths

Not scheduled

20m

215 (Area della Ricerca CNR)

Contributed Talk

Speaker

Shan-Shan Zhao (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory)

Description

Direct detection of supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs)—via resolved imaging of dual sources and precise orbital tracking—demands extreme astrometric precision (~1 μas/yr). Linking SMBHB evolution (from ≲10 kpc dynamical friction to ≲0.01 pc gravitational-wave stages) with observational capabilities, we estimate detectability: For AGNs with 5% SMBHB occurrence, a 86 GHz VLBI system achieving 40 μas resolution, 10 mJy sensitivity, and 1 μas/yr proper motion precision could uncover ~20 binaries. Simultaneous multi-frequency observations are critical, boosting sensitivity and astrometric accuracy to meet these stringent requirements.