457 research outputs found
Measuring the Direction and Angular Velocity of a Black Hole Accretion Disk via Lagged Interferometric Covariance
We show that interferometry can be applied to study irregular, rapidly
rotating structures, as are expected in the turbulent accretion flow near a
black hole. Specifically, we analyze the lagged covariance between
interferometric baselines of similar lengths but slightly different
orientations. For a flow viewed close to face-on, we demonstrate that the peak
in the lagged covariance indicates the direction and angular velocity of the
emission pattern from the flow. Even for moderately inclined flows, the
covariance robustly estimates the flow direction, although the estimated
angular velocity can be significantly biased. Importantly, measuring the
direction of the flow as clockwise or counterclockwise on the sky breaks a
degeneracy in accretion disk inclinations when analyzing time-averaged images
alone. We explore the potential efficacy of our technique using
three-dimensional, general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD)
simulations, and we highlight several baseline pairs for the Event Horizon
Telescope (EHT) that are well-suited to this application. These results
indicate that the EHT may be capable of estimating the direction and angular
velocity of the emitting material near Sagittarius A*, and they suggest that a
rotating flow may even be utilized to improve imaging capabilities.Comment: 8 Pages, 4 Figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Closure statistics in interferometric data
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.Comment: 31 pages, 17 figure
Relative Astrometry of Compact Flaring Structures in Sgr A* with Polarimetric VLBI
We demonstrate that polarimetric interferometry can be used to extract
precise spatial information about compact polarized flares of Sgr A*. We show
that, for a faint dynamical component, a single interferometric baseline
suffices to determine both its polarization and projected displacement from the
quiescent intensity centroid. A second baseline enables two-dimensional
reconstruction of the displacement, and additional baselines can self-calibrate
using the flare, enhancing synthesis imaging of the quiescent emission. We
apply this technique to simulated 1.3-mm wavelength observations of a "hot
spot" embedded in a radiatively inefficient accretion disk around Sgr A*. Our
results indicate that, even with current sensitivities, polarimetric
interferometry with the Event Horizon Telescope can achieve ~5 microarcsecond
relative astrometry of compact flaring structures near Sgr A* on timescales of
minutes.Comment: 9 Pages, 4 Figures, accepted for publication in Ap
High Resolution Linear Polarimetric Imaging for the Event Horizon Telescope
Images of the linear polarization of synchrotron radiation around Active
Galactic Nuclei (AGN) identify their projected magnetic field lines and provide
key data for understanding the physics of accretion and outflow from
supermassive black holes. The highest resolution polarimetric images of AGN are
produced with Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). Because VLBI
incompletely samples the Fourier transform of the source image, any image
reconstruction that fills in unmeasured spatial frequencies will not be unique
and reconstruction algorithms are required. In this paper, we explore
extensions of the Maximum Entropy Method (MEM) to linear polarimetric VLBI
imaging. In contrast to previous work, our polarimetric MEM algorithm combines
a Stokes I imager that uses only bispectrum measurements that are immune to
atmospheric phase corruption with a joint Stokes Q and U imager that operates
on robust polarimetric ratios. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our
technique on 7- and 3-mm wavelength quasar observations from the VLBA and
simulated 1.3-mm Event Horizon Telescope observations of Sgr A* and M87.
Consistent with past studies, we find that polarimetric MEM can produce
superior resolution compared to the standard CLEAN algorithm when imaging
smooth and compact source distributions. As an imaging framework, MEM is highly
adaptable, allowing a range of constraints on polarization structure.
Polarimetric MEM is thus an attractive choice for image reconstruction with the
EHT.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ. Imaging code
available at https://github.com/achael/eht-imaging
Modeling Seven Years of Event Horizon Telescope Observations with Radiatively Inefficient Accretion Flow Models
An initial three-station version of the Event Horizon Telescope, a
millimeter-wavelength very-long baseline interferometer, has observed
Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) repeatedly from 2007 to 2013, resulting in the
measurement of a variety of interferometric quantities. Of particular
importance, there is now a large set of closure phases, measured over a number
of independent observing epochs. We analyze these observations within the
context of a realization of semi-analytic radiatively inefficient disk models,
implicated by the low luminosity of Sgr A*. We find a broad consistency among
the various observing epochs and between different interferometric data types,
with the latter providing significant support for this class of models of Sgr
A*. The new data significantly tighten existing constraints on the spin
magnitude and its orientation within this model context, finding a spin
magnitude of , an inclination with respect to
the line of sight of
, and a position
angle of east of
north. These are in good agreement with previous analyses. Notably, the
previous degeneracy in the position angle has now been conclusively
broken by the inclusion of the closure phase measurements. A reflection
degeneracy in the inclination remains, permitting two localizations of the spin
vector orientation, one of which is in agreement with the orbital angular
momentum of the infrared gas cloud G2 and the clockwise disk of young stars.
This possibly supports a relationship between Sgr A*'s accretion flow and these
larger-scale features.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, accepted to Ap
Dynamical Imaging with Interferometry
By linking widely separated radio dishes, the technique of very long baseline
interferometry (VLBI) can greatly enhance angular resolution in radio
astronomy. However, at any given moment, a VLBI array only sparsely samples the
information necessary to form an image. Conventional imaging techniques
partially overcome this limitation by making the assumption that the observed
cosmic source structure does not evolve over the duration of an observation,
which enables VLBI networks to accumulate information as the Earth rotates and
changes the projected array geometry. Although this assumption is appropriate
for nearly all VLBI, it is almost certainly violated for submillimeter
observations of the Galactic Center supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*
(Sgr A*), which has a gravitational timescale of only ~20 seconds and exhibits
intra-hour variability. To address this challenge, we develop several
techniques to reconstruct dynamical images ("movies") from interferometric
data. Our techniques are applicable to both single-epoch and multi-epoch
variability studies, and they are suitable for exploring many different
physical processes including flaring regions, stable images with small
time-dependent perturbations, steady accretion dynamics, or kinematics of
relativistic jets. Moreover, dynamical imaging can be used to estimate
time-averaged images from time-variable data, eliminating many spurious image
artifacts that arise when using standard imaging methods. We demonstrate the
effectiveness of our techniques using synthetic observations of simulated black
hole systems and 7mm Very Long Baseline Array observations of M87, and we show
that dynamical imaging is feasible for Event Horizon Telescope observations of
Sgr A*.Comment: 16 Pages, 12 Figures, Accepted for publication in Ap
Approaching the event horizon: 1.3mm VLBI of SgrA*
Advances in VLBI instrumentation now allow wideband recording that
significantly increases the sensitivity of short wavelength VLBI observations.
Observations of the super-massive black hole candidate at the center of the
Milky Way, SgrA*, with short wavelength VLBI reduces the scattering effects of
the intervening interstellar medium, allowing observations with angular
resolution comparable to the apparent size of the event horizon of the putative
black hole. Observations in April 2007 at a wavelength of 1.3mm on a three
station VLBI array have now confirmed structure in SgrA* on scales of just a
few Schwarzschild radii. When modeled as a circular Gaussian, the fitted
diameter of SgrA* is 37 micro arcsec (+16,-10; 3-sigma), which is smaller than
the expected apparent size of the event horizon of the Galactic Center black
hole. These observations demonstrate that mm/sub-mm VLBI is poised to open a
new window onto the study of black hole physics via high angular resolution
observations of the Galactic Center.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, Proceedings for "The Universe under the
Microscope" (AHAR 2008), held in Bad Honnef (Germany) in April 2008, to be
published in Journal of Physics: Conference Series by Institute of Physics
Publishing, R. Schoedel, A. Eckart, S. Pfalzner, and E. Ros (eds.
A global soil spectral calibration library and estimation service
There is growing global interest in the potential for soil reflectance spectroscopy to fill an urgent need for more data on soil properties for improved decision-making on soil security at local to global scales. This is driven by the capability of soil spectroscopy to estimate a wide range of soil properties from a rapid, inexpensive, and highly reproducible measurement using only light. However, several obstacles are preventing wider adoption of soil spectroscopy. The biggest obstacles are the large variation in the soil analytical methods and operating procedures used in different laboratories, poor reproducibility of analyses within and amongst laboratories and a lack of soil physical archives. In addition, adoption is hindered by the expense and complexity of building soil spectral libraries and calibration models. The Global Soil Spectral Calibration Library and Estimation Service is proposed to overcome these obstacles by providing a freely available estimation service based on an open, high quality and diverse spectral calibration library and the extensive soil archives of the Kellogg Soil Survey Laboratory (KSSL) of the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The initiative is supported by the Global Soil Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN) of the Global Soil Partnership and the Soil Spectroscopy for Global Good network, which provide additional support through dissemination of standards, capacity development and research. This service is a global public good which stands to benefit soil assessments globally, but especially developing countries where soil data and resources for conventional soil analyses are most limited
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