Speaker
Description
Recent developments of multi-frequency receivers with shared optical paths (SOP) have brought a number of new scientific and technological opportunities to VLBI. With these receivers, the frequency phase transfer (FPT) method can become a backbone of VLBI operations at frequencies above 22 GHz. This opportunity has already been exploited at the Korean VLBI Network (KVN) and is gaining ever more prominent attention in Europe, where up to six telescopes may soon start operating three-band (22/43/86 GHz) SOP receivers, including one for the 100-m radio telescope in Effelsberg, which is funded in the framework of the M2FINDERS project and with large facility project funding from the Max Planck Society.
Observations with this new network of telescopes would bring order of magnitude improvements in sensitivity and dynamic range of mm-VLBI imaging and deliver astrometric measurements with an accuracy of a few microarcseconds. The resulting exceptional discovery potential would strongly impact a number of scientific fields ranging from fundamental cosmology and black hole physics to stellar astrophysics and studies of transient phenomena.
In this talk, we will review the recent developments in frequency-domain atmospheric phase calibrations and the development of new triple-band receivers, and we will present highlights from recent test observations with a prototype array consisting of radio telescopes in East Asia and Spain.
| What is your career stage? | Non-tenured scientist (post PhD) |
|---|---|
| Which telescopes do you use / are you affiliated with? | Effelsberg, GMVA, EHT, KVN, EAVN, VLBA |
