{
  "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 properties across diverse accretion states, radio loudness, host galaxy environments, and viewing geometries.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": "Journal reference: Publ. Astron. Soc. Pac. 138, 094102 (2026)",
  "arxiv": "2608.16983",
  "author_total": 15,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Yuto Akiyama"
    },
    {
      "name": "Kazunori Akiyama"
    },
    {
      "name": "Dominic W. Pesce"
    },
    {
      "name": "Daniel C. M. Palumbo"
    },
    {
      "name": "Angelo Ricarte"
    },
    {
      "name": "Paul Tiede"
    },
    {
      "name": "Marvin N. Martinez"
    },
    {
      "name": "Hikaru Yoshida"
    },
    {
      "name": "Avery E. Broderick"
    },
    {
      "name": "Aya E. Higuchi"
    },
    {
      "name": "Sara Issaoun"
    },
    {
      "name": "Neil M Nagar"
    },
    {
      "name": "Kotaro Niinuma"
    },
    {
      "name": "Venkatessh Ramakrishnan"
    },
    {
      "name": "Xinyue Alice Zhang"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9g85zps3h8f0c.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2608.16983",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "9g85zps3h8f0c",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.16983",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.HE"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.IM"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2608.16983",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-08-17",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9g85zps3h8f0c.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:23:39Z",
      "native_id": "2608.16983",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.16983"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.HE",
      "subfield": "high-energy-astrophysics"
    },
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.IM",
      "subfield": "instrumentation-methods"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Resolving Nearby Supermassive Black Holes with the Black Hole Explorer",
  "title_text": "Resolving Nearby Supermassive Black Holes with the Black Hole Explorer",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:23:39Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9g85zps3h8f0c",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": [
    {
      "doi": "10.1088/1538-3873/ae9ca4",
      "pid": null,
      "relation": "published-as",
      "title": null,
      "venue": null
    }
  ]
}