Published in Reports on Progress in Physics, Volume 71,
Issue 6, pp. 066901 (2008).
astro-ph/0803.2983
For a PDF version of the article, click here.
HIGH RESOLUTION RADIO ASTRONOMY USING VERY LONG BASELINE
INTERFEROMETRY
Enno Middelberg 1 and Uwe Bach
2
1 Astronomisches Institut,
Universität Bochum, 44801 Bochum, Germany
1 Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem
Hügel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany
Abstract: Very Long Baseline Interferometry, or
VLBI, is the observing technique yielding the highest-resolution
images today. Whilst a traditionally large fraction of VLBI
observations is concentrating on Active Galactic Nuclei, the
number of observations concerned with other astronomical objects
such as stars and masers, and with astrometric applications, is
significant. In the last decade, much progress has been made in all
of these fields. We give a brief introduction into the technique of
radio interferometry, focussing on the particularities of VLBI
observations, and review recent results which would not have been
possible without VLBI observations.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
- THE THEORY OF INTERFEROMETRY AND APERTURE
SYNTHESIS
- Fundamentals
- Sources of error in VLBI observations
- The problem of phase calibration:
self-calibration
- Polarization
- Spectral line VLBI
- Pulsar gating
- Wide-field limitations
- VLBI at mm wavelengths
- The future of VLBI: eVLBI, VLBI in space,
and the SKA
- VLBI arrays around the world and their
capabilities
- ASTROPHYSICAL APPLICATIONS
- Active Galactic Nuclei and their jets
- Stars
- Results from astrometric observations
- CONCLUSIONS
- REFERENCES
