The transformative power of ALMA2040 for mm-VLBI
Abstract
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has resolved horizon-scale emission in M87* and Sgr A*. Extending these observations to fainter black holes, multiple frequencies, and evolving structures requires greater sensitivity and new observing capabilities. We investigate how ALMA2040 could expand the scientific reach of global millimeter very long baseline interferometry (mm-VLBI), compared with ALMA's Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade (WSU). Phasing a larger ALMA array and enabling simultaneous observations across multiple ALMA bands would improve sensitivity and frequency phase transfer, providing spectral and polarimetric diagnostics of gravity, accretion flows, magnetic fields, and relativistic jets. In the configurations studied, ALMA2040 achieves sub-mJy baseline sensitivity at 230 GHz and improves prospects for faint-source imaging at 345 GHz, opening a path from individual horizon-scale targets toward population studies. Simulated observations of M87* show improved multi-frequency recovery of emission from the compact ring-like region toward the jet base, enabling studies of the accretion-jet connection. For Sgr A*, simulations of interstellar scattering mitigation yield a 27% reduction in the error of the recovered intrinsic source structure relative to the WSU configuration. Beyond black holes, these capabilities benefit geometric-distance measurements, stellar masers, compact transients, and other applications of high-resolution astrophysics. Together with rapid-response capabilities across the VLBI network, ALMA2040 could support a transition from isolated snapshots toward multi-frequency, time-resolved studies of compact sources.
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BibTeX
@misc{collaboration2026transformative,
title = {{The transformative power of ALMA2040 for mm-VLBI}},
author = {The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.22662},
eprint = {2610.22662},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.22662},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The transformative power of ALMA2040 for mm-VLBI
AU - The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/15
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.22662
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.22662
AB - The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has resolved horizon-scale emission in M87* and Sgr A*. Extending these observations to fainter black holes, multiple frequencies, and evolving structures requires greater sensitivity and new observing capabilities. We investigate how ALMA2040 could expand the scientific reach of global millimeter very long baseline interferometry (mm-VLBI), compared with ALMA's Wideband Sensitivity Upgrade (WSU). Phasing a larger ALMA array and enabling simultaneous observations across multiple ALMA bands would improve sensitivity and frequency phase transfer, providing spectral and polarimetric diagnostics of gravity, accretion flows, magnetic fields, and relativistic jets. In the configurations studied, ALMA2040 achieves sub-mJy baseline sensitivity at 230 GHz and improves prospects for faint-source imaging at 345 GHz, opening a path from individual horizon-scale targets toward population studies. Simulated observations of M87* show improved multi-frequency recovery of emission from the compact ring-like region toward the jet base, enabling studies of the accretion-jet connection. For Sgr A*, simulations of interstellar scattering mitigation yield a 27% reduction in the error of the recovered intrinsic source structure relative to the WSU configuration. Beyond black holes, these capabilities benefit geometric-distance measurements, stellar masers, compact transients, and other applications of high-resolution astrophysics. Together with rapid-response capabilities across the VLBI network, ALMA2040 could support a transition from isolated snapshots toward multi-frequency, time-resolved studies of compact sources.
ER -