Interferometric observations of supermassive black holes in the millimeter wave band

Abstract

We present a theoretical description of different types of accretion disks and jets near supermassive black holes (SMBHs) that can be observed in the (sub)millimeter wave band. Special attention is paid to the possible formation of the shadow of a black hole illuminated by an accretion disk or a jet. We suggest a simple criterion for identifying such a shadow in current and planned SMBH observations using very long baseline interferometry (VLBI). As an example, we propose a number of potential SMBH candidates satisfying this criterion for observations with the future Millimetron space observatory in the VLBI regime and with the Event Horizon Telescope.