1. Super Massive Black Holes Outstanding synergy with Fermi  -ray telescope…same particles produce  -rays also radio photons. While  -rays may dominate energetics, but VLBI can image what’s going on; eg, evidence that SLM traced back to “core”, not BH, at time of optical and  - ray flares VLBI movies of AGN jets (eg M 87, blazars) provide the only way to image these amazing phenomena on scales down to the ergosphere of nearby SMBHs. VLBA imaging surveys of >1000 AGNs! No new binary SMBHs found. Jet acceleration ramps up over inner parsecs. Non-balistic motions common; mm- VLBI jet widths currently favor B-Znajek over B-Paine. Polarization imaging revealing jet-sheaths…extremely rich phenomenology. “Event Horizon Telescope” VLBI can image with R sch resolution for Sgr A* and M87; already see dramatic changes on scales of R sch ; phased-ALMA critical 1.How do cosmic accelerators work and what are they accelerating? 2.What collimates jets and how do jets evolve and interact with their host galaxy? M 87

2. Super-Massive Black Hole Accretion Disks 1.Do SMBHs control galaxy evolution (via AGN feedback)? 2.How do AGN accretion disks work? Sub-pc resolution imaging of AGN accretion disks via H 2 O masers (~150 now known) with 3D velocities “Gold Standard” black hole mass measurements; test and calibrate the M BH -  relation (  M ~ few%) Seyfert galaxy M BH ~ 10 7 M sun fall below M-  relation Get physical parameters of accretion disks (possibly to high-z): limits on disk mass T ~ 10 3 K and n ~ 10 9 cm -3 (to allow masing) B-fields possible from Zeeman effect Causes of warps; spiral structure? NGC 4258

3. Stellar Black Holes VLBI parallaxes (+optical/x-ray data)  accurate binary parameters and BH spins Directly tracing binary orbits Some BH’s may form without a bang! Fermi HMXRB (LSI+61 o 303) mystery; VLBA cometary- like pulsar-wind nebula, but no pulsations found.  -ray light curve evolving, unlike pulsar. What is going on? 1.How do black holes form and evolve? 2.Did Einstein have the last word on gravity? Cygnus X-1

4. The Milky Way Parallaxes/proper motions of masers in star forming regions will accurately trace spiral structure Determine fundamental parameters, R 0 and  0 Nearly 50 high-mass star forming region parallaxes measured with VLBA and VERA More than ~300 22-GHz H 2 O and ~1000 6.7-GHz CH 3 OH masers known…no shortage of sources 1.What Is the kinematic and spiral structure of the Milky Way? 2.What are the masses of its (disk, bar/bulge, halo) components?

5. Star Formation Parallaxes (±1%) of low-mass stars throughout the solar neighborhood; without parallaxes get poor sizes of disks (25%), L and age (50%), mass (100%) Resolve Pleiades distance controversy (Hipparcos vs. “rest of the world”)…main-seq fitting, stellar ages & evolution Accurate masses, luminosities and ages of YSOs Direct imaging of disk outflows with sub-AU resolution and 3D velocity information OH masers: full Zeeman effect (potential for 3D B-field) VLBI masers maps synergistic with EVLA & ALMA for high- mass star formation studies 1.How do low mass and massive stars form? 2.How do accretion disks work and drive outflows? Orion Source-I

6. Cosmological Parameters Rotational parallaxes (eg, M 33) allow better calibration of Cepheid P-L-metallicity relation Direct measurement of H 0 from megamaser H 2 O maser (Megamaser Cosmology Project): ~150 known; so far 8 good for distance measurements Goal: 10 galaxies each with  Ho ~ 10%  3% final uncertainty Ho = 72 ± 5 km/s/Mpc for NGC 4258 (by re-cal’ing Cepheids) Ho = 69 ± 11 km/s/Mpc for UGC 3789 (directly) Ho = 73 ± 7 km/s/Mpc for NGC 6264 (directly) Measuring spectral lines at high redshift test constancy of fine- structure “constant” and proton-electron mass ratio; need highest angular resolution to isolate absorption compnents 1.Can the extragalactic distance scale be improved? 2.What is the value of Ho (and then w)? 3.Do fundamental constants change over cosmic time? UGC 3789

7. Galaxy Interactions and Mergers Proper motion measurement of Andromeda is key to the dynamical fate of the Local Group Measurement of the masses of the dark matter halos of Andromeda and Milky Way OH megamasers reveal galaxy mergers; maser clumps have dynamical masses of ~10 6 M sun No new binary SMBHs found in VLBA survey of over 1100 ANGs! 1.How Is matter distributed in the Local Group of galaxies? 2.What is the history and fate of the Milky Way and the Local Group? 3.What happens to SMBHs in merging galaxies?

8. Physics of Explosions and Ultradense Matter Distances (parallaxes) to neutron stars are key to determining their masses and radii, which combined can place strong constraints on the equation of state of ultra-dense matter. Proper motions indicate birth places and ages of pulsars. With parallax & DMs can model Milky Way n e Pulsar parallaxes sensitivity limited…need BW For Fermi pulsars, D => L and comparing L(  ray) vs. L(spindown), if equal, can get moment of intertia…M(r) 1.How do explosions work and what do they make? 2.How do pulsars form, evolve, and emit? 3.What is the equation of state of neutron stars?

9. Exosolar Planets RIPL: targets are low-mass nearby stars; can rule out planet >10 M J @ 1 AU in only 10 days! Hints of planets in data. Sensitivity limited…need more BW 1.Are planetary systems around low mass stars different from solar mass stars? 2.What is fraction of long-period planets around low mass stars?

10. The Earth as a Planet, Solar System & Reference Frames EOP measured using VLBA & other antennas VLBI only technique for the fundamental celestial and terrestrial reference fames and UT1 Quality of VLBA data improved ICRF by 60% ! Highest precision free-core nutation measures Measure asteroid spin/shape, using short VLBA baselines, for possible manned “landing” 1.What is the Earth’s rotation, gravity field and internal structure? 2.What are asteroid shapes and spins?

11. Space Craft Tracking VLBA positioning complementary to range- Doppler tracking…need VLBI array controlled at 1 location Demonstrated <1 nrad (<0.2 mas); VLBI is most accurate space craft tracking method Tracking Cassini improved mass estimate of Iapetus Measured barycenter of Saturn to ±10 mas IKAROS (solar-sail) tracked with Australian VLBI Future can achieve <100 m lateral positioning 1.How well can we locate and track interplanetary space craft? 2.Can we improve the rather uncertain orbits of outer planets?

12. Other VLBI Networks VLBA strengths: Dedicated array/uniform data/always available Parallax scheduling, transients… Good high frequency performance Near-realtime multi-frequency observations Good (u,v) coverage/imaging/high resolution Very flexible correlator, eg, optimum pulsar gating; multi-position correlation EVN strengths: Large number of antennas Large collecting area Good low-frequency performance eVLBI realtime operation VERA strengths: Dedicated for astrometry: already 25 parallaxes Simultaneous dual-beam observations 1.What role does the VLBA play in worldwide VLBI ?

13. Other VLBI Networks HSA strengths: Highest sensitivity (  S ~ 1  Jy) Phased-EVLA soon Japan/Korean (East Asian) VLBI 13 Japanese, 3 (new) Korean, 4 Chinese ants Australian LBA; proud of international users! 12-m in New Zealand; ASKAP (36 12-m) will join at L-band Global Arrays: MeerKAT will be a 100-m class VLBI station, plus other African telescopes may join VLBI efforts 3 mm-VLBI (14 antennas) studies most variable AGN emission China’s 4 antennas joining arrays; soon Shanghai 65-m and then FAST Event Horizon Telescope (EHT): Image dynamic region @ “event horizon” resolution 1.What role does the VLBA play in worldwide VLBI ?

14. State of the “VLBI Union” Increase revenues Decrease expenses Upgrade (or die) Add capability (eg, 4,32,160 Gbps; C-band rcvr; wide-field correlation/surveys) On path to SKA-high: “NAA” 1.How can we reduce the budget deficit? 2.Can we increase competiveness?

15. What to do? Fermi contribution (why not spend 10% of 8M$/yr grant program as partial support for VLBA observations) “Sell” more geodetic/geophysical time Spacecraft tracking NRAO “bake sale” “Mission projects”: decrease user support; users help with data quality assurance Dropping antennas absolute last resort 1.Array designed for optimum (u,v)-coverage over all Declinations: minimum # of antennas = 10 2.20 – 40% degradation for 8 vs 10 antennas 3.No obvious antenna(s) to drop: SC poor @ high- freq, but important for NS beam @ low freq 4.Even for astrometry only, some sources done with “inner-5” when maser spots are large 1.How can we raise revenue and/or cut costs?