Radio Astronomy

Contains reports on three research projects.United States Navy, Office of Naval Research (Contract Nonr-3963(02)-Task 2)National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Contract NaSr-101, Grant NsG-250-62, Grant NsG-264-62

Radio Astronomy

Contains research objectives and summary of research on seven research projects and a report on one research project.Joint Services Electronics Program (Contract DAAB07-75-C-1346)National Science Foundation (Grant AST73-05042-AO2)National Institutes of Health (Grant 5 SO5 RR07047-10)U. S. Air Force - Electronic Systems Division (Contract F19628-75-C-0122)M.I.T. Sloan Fund for Basic ResearchNational Aeronautics and Space Administration (Contract NAS5-21980)National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Contract NAS5-22485

Radio Astronomy

Contains reports on three research projects.National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NGL 22-009-016)National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NGL 22-009-421)National Science Foundation (Grant GP-20769)California Institute of Technology Contract 952568Sloan Fund for Basic Research (M. I. T. Grant 241

Electrodynamics of Media

Contains research objectives, summary of research and reports on two research projects.Joint Services Electronics Programs (U. S. Army, U. S. Navy, and U. S. Air Force) under Contract DAAB07-71-C-0300U. S. Army Research Office - Durham (Contract l)AHC04-72-C-0044)California Institute of Technology Contract 953524M.I.T. Sloan Fund for Basic Researc

Tropospheric Phase Calibration in Millimeter Interferometry

We review millimeter interferometric phase variations caused by variations in the precipitable water vapor content of the troposphere, and we discuss techniques proposed to correct for these variations. We present observations with the Very Large Array at 22 GHz and 43 GHz designed to test these techniques. We find that both the Fast Switching and Paired Array calibration techniques are effective at reducing tropospheric phase noise for radio interferometers. In both cases, the residual rms phase fluctuations after correction are independent of baseline length for b > b_{eff}. These techniques allow for diffraction limited imaging of faint sources on arbitrarily long baselines at mm wavelengths. We consider the technique of tropospheric phase correction using a measurement of the precipitable water vapor content of the troposphere via a radiometric measurement of the brightness temperature of the atmosphere. Required sensitivities range from 20 mK at 90 GHz to 1 K at 185 GHz for the MMA, and 120 mK for the VLA at 22 GHz. The minimum gain stability requirement is 200 at 185 GHz at the MMA assuming that the astronomical receivers are used for radiometry. This increases to 2000 for an uncooled system. The stability requirement is 450 for the cooled system at the VLA at 22 GHz. To perform absolute radiometric phase corrections also requires knowledge of the tropospheric parameters and models to an accuracy of a few percent. It may be possible to perform an `empirically calibrated' radiometric phase correction, in which the relationship between fluctuations in brightness temperature differences with fluctuations in interferometric phases is calibrated by observing a celestial calibrator at regular intervals.Comment: AAS LATEX preprint format. to appear in Radio Science 199

Simultaneous Absolute Timing of the Crab Pulsar at Radio and Optical Wavelengths

The Crab pulsar emits across a large part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Determining the time delay between the emission at different wavelengths will allow to better constrain the site and mechanism of the emission. We have simultaneously observed the Crab Pulsar in the optical with S-Cam, an instrument based on Superconducting Tunneling Junctions (STJs) with $\mu$s time resolution and at 2 GHz using the Nan\c{c}ay radio telescope with an instrument doing coherent dedispersion and able to record giant pulses data. We have studied the delay between the radio and optical pulse using simultaneously obtained data therefore reducing possible uncertainties present in previous observations. We determined the arrival times of the (mean) optical and radio pulse and compared them using the tempo2 software package. We present the most accurate value for the optical-radio lag of 255 $\pm$ 21 $\mu$s and suggest the likelihood of a spectral dependence to the excess optical emission asociated with giant radio pulses.Comment: 8 pages; accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Detection of Giant Pulses from the Pulsar PSR B0031-07

Giant pulses have been detected from the pulsar PSR B0031-07. A pulse with an intensity higher than the intensity of the average pulse by a factor of 50 or more is encountered approximately once per 300 observed periods. The peak flux density of the strongest pulse is 530 Jy, which is a factor of 120 higher than the peak flux density of the average pulse. The giant pulses are a factor of 20 narrower than the integrated profile and are clustered about its center.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, to appear in: Pis'ma v Astronomicheskii Zhurnal, 2004, v.30, No.4, and will be translated as: Astronomy Letters, v.30, No.

Detection of Giant Radio Pulses from the Pulsar PSR B0656+14

Giant pulses (GPs) have been detected from the pulsar PSR B0656+14. A pulse that is more intense than the average pulse by a factor of 120 is encountered approximately once in 3000 observed periods of the pulsar. The peak flux density of the strongest pulse, 120 Jy, is a factor of 630 higher than that of the average pulse. The GP energy exceeds the energy of the average pulse by up to a factor of 110, which is comparable to that for other known pulsars with GPs, including the Crab pulsar and the millisecond pulsar PSR B1937+21. The giant pulses are a factor of 6 narrower than the average pulse and are clustered at the head of the average pulse. PSR B0656+14 along with PSR B0031-07, PSR B1112+50, and PSR J1752+2359 belong to a group of pulsars that differ from previously known ones in which GPs have been detected without any extremely strong magnetic field on the light cylinder.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, 1 table; originally published in Russian in Pis'ma Astron. Zh., 2006, v.32, 650; translated by George Rudnitskii; the English version will be appear in Astronomy Letter

Radio Astronomy

Contains reports on three research projects, with one broken into two subsections.National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NsG-419)National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Contract NSR-22-009-120)Joint Services Electronics Programs (U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force) under Contract DA 28-043-AMC-02536(E

Radio Astronomy

Contains reports on three research projects.National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NsG-419)National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Contract NSR-22-009-120)Lincoln Laboratory Purchase Order No. 74