Event Horizon Telescope & BlackGEM Extreme physics in space

Heino Falcke

Paul Groot

Radboud University

Event Horizon Telescope BlackHoleCAM (ERC Synergy) Science: Gravitational bending of light around supermassive black holes

Method: Global submm VLBI to resolve Sgr A*

Event Horizon Telescope BlackHoleCAM (ERC Synergy)

LLAMA?

Challenges & Opportunities BlackHoleCAM (ERC Synergy)

● Aligning all submm telescopes and their communities

● Achieve stable long-baseline submm VLBI

● Supplying all observatories with similar receivers

● Opportunities for addition of LLAMA? → Especially important for short baseline calibration

● Great additions: Africa submm telescope → Opportunity for NL-Br-ZA triangle?

Gravitational Wave Astrophysics

First Direct Detections of GW Opening up GW Astrophysics -

Nikhef/VU Nikhef/RU RU/NOVA Data Analysis & BlackGEM array Hardware for Pipeline of telescopes Advanced Virgo GW detectors EM detection

Jo van den Brand Chris vd Broeck Paul Groot Gijs Nelemans Gijs Nelemans

NL Gravitational Wave Astrophysics

(NWO, FOM, NOVA, Nikhef, RU, VU)

IPTF Science workshop BlackGEM Phase 1 5 BlackGEM Project

Aim: To detect and characterize population of GW merger events by detecting EM Counterparts

Challenge: Optical counterparts are fast & faint, GW errorboxes are large (~100 sqd)

Means: Configurable array of optical telescopes at ESO La Silla

6 Challenge: Location, location, location...

● GW accuracy: ~100 square degrees

● Needed for large telescopes: 1″ 100 sq.degr. =10⁹ 1arcsec

Improvement needed: factor 1 billion

NOVA NW3 April2013 BlackGEM Phase 1 7 BlackGEM Optical array for gravitational wave counterparts Aim To detect and characterize the population of GW counterparts Timeline 2016, 5-year project Phase 1 4 telescopes (3 M€); Phase 2; 15 telescopes (10 M€) Per telescope 2.7 square degrees, 0.56 ”/pix, 65cm aperture Location ESO La Silla

GPO/ Marly

Project components

Microservers?

DOME/CET

Processing

● BlackGEM on the Roadmap for Advanced Instrumentation

● Prototype system to go to South Africa (MeerLICHT), in collaboration with MeerKAT/SKA-ZA

FAPESP-NWO workshop BlackGEM Phase 1 9 Aim and Schedules

Phase 0: (11 sqd, 2016 – 2017) All Sky Survey

Full Southern Sky in u,g,r,i,z down to ~22nd mag

Phase 1: (11 sqd, 2016 – 2017) Survey Phase

-2 -1 -1 Rates : Ncandidates(l,b,τ,mag,colour) (degr hr mag )

● Number of fiducial fields: ~200 square degrees ● Cadence: once every 1-5 minutes, in 4 bands ● Time per sqd: 7 nights Phase 2: (11-30 sqd, 2017+) Trigger Phase

GW events

● Follow-up on Virgo/LIGO detections ● Cover the error boxes in a tiling pattern (Fly's Eye Mode)

● Follow late-term afterglows (Zoom Mode)

Dutch Gravitational Wave Day BlackGEM Phase 1 1 0