All you ever wanted to know about optical long baseline stellar interferometry, but were too shy to ask your adviser

I try to present a small view of the properties and issues related to astronomical interferometry observations. I recall a bit of history of the technique, give some basic assessments to the principle of interferometry, and finally, describe physical processes and limitations that affect optical long baseline interferometry and which are, in general, very useful for everyday work. Therefore, this text is not intended to perform strong demonstrations and show accurate results, but rather to transmit the general “feeling” one needs to have to not be destabilised by the first contact to real world interferometry.     

Probing the close environment of young stellar objects with interferometry

The study of Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) is one of the most exciting topics that can be undertaken by long baseline optical interferometry. The magnitudes of these objects are at the edge of capabilities of current optical interferometers, limiting the studies to a few dozen, but are well within the capability of coming large aperture interferometers like the VLT Interferometer, the Keck Interferometer, the Large Binocular Telescope or 'OHANA. The milli-arcsecond spatial resolution reached by interferometry probes the very close environment of young stars, down to a tenth of an astronomical unit. In this paper, I review the different aspects of star formation that can be tackled by interferometry: circumstellar disks, multiplicity, jets. I present recent observations performed with operational infrared interferometers, IOTA, PTI and ISI, and I show why in the next future one will extend these studies with large aperture interferometers. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

新一代S2FS终端控制软件

上海天文台佘山 2 5m观测站S2 -PT终端系统用于甚长基线干涉测量 (VLBI)实验。它在实验中按不同的模式将实验数据记录在录像带上。新一代S2FS控制软件使用一个观测纲要文件和一个过程控制文件在FS(FieldSystem)软件下控制S2终端系统     

The sio masers and dust shell of VX sgr

The circumstellar envelope of the late-type supergiant VX Sagittarii has been studied with VLBI observations of SiO maser emission (J = 1 0v = 1) and interferometric observations of mid-infrared dust emission.     

Darwin—an experimental astronomy mission to search for extrasolar planets

As a response to ESA call for mission concepts for its Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 plan, we propose a mission called Darwin. Its primary goal is the study of terrestrial extrasolar planets and the search for life on them. In this paper, we describe different characteristics of the instrument.

The 'Pisco' Speckle Camera at Pic Du Midi Observatory

We present a new speckle camera designed and built at Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées. This focal instrument has been used for four years with the 2-meter Bernard Lyot Telescope of Pic du Midi observatory. It can be set in various operating modes: full pupil imaging, masked-pupil imaging, spectroscopy, wave-front sensor and stellar coronagraphy, hence its name 'PISCO' ('Pupil Interferometry Speckle COronagraph'). Restored images of double and triple stars have demonstrated its capabilities in providing close to diffraction limited images (0.06 in V). PISCO has been fully tested and is now ready to be used by the whole astronomical community.     

2015年塔吉克斯坦MS7.4地震的InSAR观测及其构造意义

利用欧空局提供的Sentinel-1A卫星差分干涉数据为约束,对2015-12-07塔吉克斯坦MS7.4地震的震源机制进行反演。首先运用两轨法对卫星雷达影像进行差分干涉处理,获取覆盖塔吉克斯坦地震震区的同震形变场,然后运用分布式滑动模型反演获取较精细的断层滑动分布。结果显示,分布式滑动模型与观测结果有很高的拟合度。反演结果表明,发震断层以左旋走滑运动为主,此次地震断层的最大滑移量为4.42 m,同震的地震矩为73.71×1018 Nm,矩震级为MW7.19,与震后USGS、GCMT、IPGP等机构给出的震源机制解结果一致,是在具有左旋走滑运动特征的显著构造背景下的一次正常、必然的破裂事件。     

VLBI观测资料解算地球自转参数精度分析

为分析VLBI观测资料解算地球自转参数的精度,根据VLBI观测原理及其误差方程,分别利用2020年VLBI观测数据及CONT17连续加密观测的XA、XB两种频率通道数据解算地球自转参数,并以EOP14 C04序列作为计算外符合精度的参考序列。结果表明,VLBI观测数据解算地球自转参数各分量的外符合精度均能满足高精度要求,比较解算结果与同时段GPS连续数据的解算结果发现,两者精度总体处于同一水平;CONT17观测的XA、XB两种频率通道数据解算极移时精度相当,但前者在稳定性及解算UT1-UTC序列精度上具有较大优势。     

较差相位参考技术：VLTI-PRIMA

简述了窄角天体测量中地面较差相位参考技术在射电波段以及近年来在红外波段的应用。给出了较差相位参考技术计算两颗星之间角距的基本公式;详细介绍了地面上红外波段实现较差相位参考技术VLTI-PRIMA的发展过程,和其结构、主要部件、科学能力,以及达到的目标和局限性。描述了2008年VLTI-PRIMA研制成功后进行的几次试验观测,并给出了与VLTI和NACO成像的比较结果。最后介绍了该工作的展望,如仪器硬件和软件的改进、VLTI第二代仪器GRAVITY的研制,以及根据PRIMA研制的经验,对我国研制仅有窄角天体测量功能的地基中等口径大视场光学望远镜提出几点建议。     

Equipartitioning is not sufficient for Green's function extraction

The extraction of the Earth's Green's function from field fluctuations is a rapidly growing area of research.The principle of Green's function extraction is often related to the requirement of equipartitioning,which stipulates that the energy of field fluctuations is distributed evenly in some sense.We show the meaning of equipartitioning for a variety of different formulations for Green's function retrieval.We show that equipartitioning is not a sufficient condition,and provide several examples that illustrate this point.We discuss the implications of lack of equipartitioning for various schemes for the reconstruction of the Green's function in seismology.The theory for Green's function extraction is usually based on a statistical theory that relies on ensemble averages.Since there is only one Earth,one usually replaces the ensemble average with a time average.We show that such a replacement only makes sense when attenuation is taken into account,and show how the theory for Green's function extraction for oscillating systems can be extended to incorporate attenuation.