Interferometric imaging now achieves angular resolutions as fine as ∼10 as, probing scales that are inaccessible to single telescopes. Traditional synthesis imaging methods require calibrated ...visibilities; however, interferometric calibration is challenging, especially at high frequencies. Nevertheless, most studies present only a single image of their data after a process of "self-calibration," an iterative procedure where the initial image and calibration assumptions can significantly influence the final image. We present a method for efficient interferometric imaging directly using only closure amplitudes and closure phases, which are immune to station-based calibration errors. Closure-only imaging provides results that are as noncommittal as possible and allows for reconstructing an image independently from separate amplitude and phase self-calibration. While closure-only imaging eliminates some image information (e.g., the total image flux density and the image centroid), this information can be recovered through a small number of additional constraints. We demonstrate that closure-only imaging can produce high-fidelity results, even for sparse arrays such as the Event Horizon Telescope, and that the resulting images are independent of the level of systematic amplitude error. We apply closure imaging to VLBA and ALMA data and show that it is capable of matching or exceeding the performance of traditional self-calibration and CLEAN for these data sets.
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is a very long-baseline interferometer built to image supermassive black holes on event-horizon scales. In this paper, we investigate candidate sites for an expanded ...EHT array with improved imaging capabilities. We use historical meteorology and radiative transfer analysis to evaluate site performance. Most of the existing sites in the EHT array have median zenith opacity less than 0.2 at 230 GHz during the March/April observing season. Seven of the existing EHT sites have 345 GHz opacity less than 0.5 during observing months. Out of more than 40 candidate new locations analyzed, approximately half have 230 GHz opacity comparable to the existing EHT sites, and at least 17 of the candidate sites would be comparably good for 345 GHz observing. A group of new sites with favorable transmittance and geographic placement leads to greatly enhanced imaging and science on horizon scales.
Closure Statistics in Interferometric Data Blackburn, Lindy; Pesce, Dominic W.; Johnson, Michael D. ...
Astrophysical journal/The Astrophysical journal,
05/2020, Letnik:
894, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Interferometric visibilities, reflecting the complex correlations between signals recorded at antennas in an interferometric array, carry information about the angular structure of a distant source. ...While unknown antenna gains in both amplitude and phase can prevent direct interpretation of these measurements, certain combinations of visibilities called closure phases and closure amplitudes are independent of antenna gains and provide a convenient set of robust observables. However, these closure quantities have subtle noise properties and are generally both linearly and statistically dependent. These complications have obstructed the proper use of closure quantities in interferometric analysis, and they have obscured the relationship between analysis with closure quantities and other analysis techniques such as self calibration. We review the statistics of closure quantities, noting common pitfalls that arise when approaching low signal to noise due to the nonlinear propagation of statistical errors. We then develop a strategy for isolating and fitting to the independent degrees of freedom captured by the closure quantities through explicit construction of linearly independent sets of quantities along with their noise covariance in the Gaussian limit, valid for moderate signal to noise, and we demonstrate that model fits have biased posteriors when this covariance is ignored. Finally, we introduce a unified procedure for fitting to both closure information and partially calibrated visibilities, and we demonstrate both analytically and numerically the direct equivalence of inference based on closure quantities to that based on self calibration of complex visibilities with unconstrained antenna gains.
Abstract
We present estimates for the number of shadow-resolved supermassive black hole (SMBH) systems that can be detected using radio interferometers, as a function of angular resolution, flux ...density sensitivity, and observing frequency. Accounting for the distribution of SMBHs across mass, redshift, and accretion rate, we use a new semianalytic spectral energy distribution model to derive the number of SMBHs with detectable and optically thin horizon-scale emission. We demonstrate that (sub)millimeter interferometric observations with ∼0.1
μ
as resolution and ∼1
μ
Jy sensitivity could access >10
6
SMBH shadows. We then further decompose the shadow source counts into the number of black holes for which we could expect to observe the first- and second-order lensed photon rings. Accessing the bulk population of first-order photon rings requires ≲2
μ
as resolution and ≲0.5 mJy sensitivity, whereas doing the same for second-order photon rings requires ≲0.1
μ
as resolution and ≲5
μ
Jy sensitivity. Our model predicts that with modest improvements to sensitivity, as many as ∼5 additional horizon-resolved sources should become accessible to the current Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), whereas a next-generation EHT observing at 345 GHz should have access to ∼3 times as many sources. More generally, our results can help guide enhancements of current arrays and specifications for future interferometric experiments that aim to spatially resolve a large population of SMBH shadows or higher-order photon rings.
Radio images of the Galactic Center supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), are dominated by interstellar scattering. Previous studies of Sgr A* have adopted an anisotropic Gaussian model ...for both the intrinsic source and the scattering, and they have extrapolated the scattering using a purely λ2 scaling to estimate intrinsic properties. However, physically motivated source and scattering models break all three of these assumptions. They also predict that refractive scattering effects will be significant, which have been ignored in standard model fitting procedures. We analyze radio observations of Sgr A* using a physically motivated scattering model, and we develop a prescription to incorporate refractive scattering uncertainties when model fitting. We show that an anisotropic Gaussian scattering kernel is an excellent approximation for Sgr A* at wavelengths longer than 1 cm, with an angular size of along the major axis, along the minor axis, and a position angle of . We estimate that the turbulent dissipation scale is at least 600 km, with tentative support for rin = 800 200 km, suggesting that the ion Larmor radius defines the dissipation scale. We find that the power-law index for density fluctuations in the scattering material is β < 3.47, shallower than expected for a Kolmogorov spectrum (β = 11/3), and we estimate in the case of rin = 800 km. We find that the intrinsic structure of Sgr A* is nearly isotropic over wavelengths from 1.3 mm to 1.3 cm, with a size that is roughly proportional to wavelength: . We discuss implications for models of Sgr A*, for theories of interstellar turbulence, and for imaging Sgr A* with the Event Horizon Telescope.
The Event Horizon Telescope image of the supermassive black hole in the galaxy M87 is dominated by a bright, unresolved ring. General relativity predicts that embedded within this image lies a thin ..."photon ring," which is composed of an infinite sequence of self-similar subrings that are indexed by the number of photon orbits around the black hole. The subrings approach the edge of the black hole "shadow," becoming exponentially narrower but weaker with increasing orbit number, with seemingly negligible contributions from high-order subrings. Here, we show that these subrings produce strong and universal signatures on long interferometric baselines. These signatures offer the possibility of precise measurements of black hole mass and spin, as well as tests of general relativity, using only a sparse interferometric array.
EHT-HOPS Pipeline for Millimeter VLBI Data Reduction Blackburn, Lindy; Chan, Chi-kwan; Crew, Geoffrey B. ...
Astrophysical journal/The Astrophysical journal,
09/2019, Letnik:
882, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
We present the design and implementation of an automated data calibration and reduction pipeline for very long baseline interferometric (VLBI) observations taken at millimeter wavelengths. These ...short radio wavelengths provide the best imaging resolution available from ground-based VLBI networks such as the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) and the Global Millimeter VLBI Array (GMVA) but require specialized processing owing to the strong effects from atmospheric opacity and turbulence, as well as the heterogeneous nature of existing global arrays. The pipeline builds on a calibration suite (HOPS) originally designed for precision geodetic VLBI. To support the reduction of data for astronomical observations, we have developed an additional framework for global phase and amplitude calibration that provides output in a standard data format for astronomical imaging and analysis. The pipeline was successfully used toward the reduction of 1.3 mm observations from the EHT 2017 campaign, leading to the first image of a black hole "shadow" at the center of the radio galaxy M87. In this work, we analyze observations taken at 3.5 mm (86 GHz) by the GMVA, joined by the phased Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in 2017 April, and demonstrate the benefits from the specialized processing of high-frequency VLBI data with respect to classical analysis techniques.
Abstract Very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) provides the highest-resolution images in astronomy. The sharpest resolution is nominally achieved at the highest frequencies, but as the observing ...frequency increases, so too does the atmospheric contribution to the system noise, degrading the sensitivity of the array and hampering detection. In this paper, we explore the limits of high-frequency VLBI observations using ngehtsim , a new tool for generating realistic synthetic data. ngehtsim uses detailed historical atmospheric models to simulate observing conditions, and it employs heuristic visibility detection criteria that emulate single- and multifrequency VLBI calibration strategies. We demonstrate the fidelity of ngehtsim’s predictions using a comparison with existing 230 GHz data taken by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), and we simulate the expected performance of EHT observations at 345 GHz. Though the EHT achieves a nearly 100% detection rate at 230 GHz, our simulations indicate that it should expect substantially poorer performance at 345 GHz; in particular, observations of M87* at 345 GHz are predicted to achieve detection rates of ≲20% that may preclude imaging. Increasing the array sensitivity through wider bandwidths and/or longer integration times—as enabled through, e.g., the simultaneous multifrequency upgrades envisioned for the next-generation EHT—can improve the 345 GHz prospects and yield detection levels that are comparable to those at 230 GHz. M87* and Sgr A* observations carried out in the atmospheric window around 460 GHz could expect to regularly achieve multiple detections on long baselines, but analogous observations at 690 and 875 GHz consistently obtain almost no detections at all.
ABSTRACT
We present MeqSilhouette v2.0 (MeqSv2), a fully polarimetric, time-and frequency-resolved synthetic data generation software for simulating millimetre (mm) wavelength very long baseline ...interferometry (VLBI) observations with heterogeneous arrays. Synthetic data are a critical component in understanding real observations, testing calibration and imaging algorithms, and predicting performance metrics of existing or proposed sites. MeqSv2 applies physics-based instrumental and atmospheric signal corruptions constrained by empirically derived site and station parameters to the data. The new version is capable of applying instrumental polarization effects and various other spectrally resolved effects using the Radio Interferometry Measurement Equation (RIME) formalism and produces synthetic data compatible with calibration pipelines designed to process real data. We demonstrate the various corruption capabilities of MeqSv2 using different arrays, with a focus on the effect of complex bandpass gains on closure quantities for the EHT at 230 GHz. We validate the frequency-dependent polarization leakage implementation by performing polarization self-calibration of synthetic EHT data using PolSolve. We also note the potential applications for cm-wavelength VLBI array analysis and design and future directions.
Abstract
We investigate general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations to determine the physical origin of the twisty patterns of linear polarization seen in spatially resolved black hole ...images and explain their morphological dependence on black hole spin. By characterizing the observed emission with a simple analytic ring model, we find that the twisty morphology is determined by the magnetic field structure in the emitting region. Moreover, the dependence of this twisty pattern on spin can be attributed to changes in the magnetic field geometry that occur due to the frame dragging. By studying an analytic ring model, we find that the roles of Doppler boosting and lensing are subdominant. Faraday rotation may cause a systematic shift in the linear polarization pattern, but we find that its impact is subdominant for models with strong magnetic fields and modest ion-to-electron temperature ratios. Models with weaker magnetic fields are much more strongly affected by Faraday rotation and have more complicated emission geometries than can be captured by a ring model. However, these models are currently disfavoured by the recent EHT observations of M87*. Our results suggest that linear polarization maps can provide a probe of the underlying magnetic field structure around a black hole, which may then be usable to indirectly infer black hole spins. The generality of these results should be tested with alternative codes, initial conditions, and plasma physics prescriptions.
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