Radio Astronomy Image Reconstruction in the Big Data Era

Next generation radio interferometric telescopes pave the way for the future of radio astronomy with extremely wide-fields of view and precision polarimetry not possible at other optical wavelengths, with the required cost of image reconstruction. These instruments will be used to map large scale Galactic and extra-galactic structures at higher resolution and fidelity than ever before. However, radio astronomy has entered the era of big data, limiting the expected sensitivity and fidelity of the instruments due to the large amounts of data. New image reconstruction methods are critical to meet the data requirements needed to obtain new scientific discoveries in radio astronomy. To meet this need, this work takes traditional radio astronomical imaging and introduces new of state-of-the-art image reconstruction frameworks of sparse image reconstruction algorithms. The software package PURIFY, developed in this work, uses convex optimization algorithms (i.e. alternating direction method of multipliers) to solve for the reconstructed image. We design, implement, and apply distributed radio interferometric image reconstruction methods for the message passing interface (MPI), showing that PURIFY scales to big data image reconstruction on computing clusters. We design a distributed wide-field imaging algorithm for non-coplanar arrays, while providing new theoretical insights for wide-field imaging. It is shown that PURIFY’s methods provide higher dynamic range than traditional image reconstruction methods, providing a more accurate and detailed sky model for real observations. This sets the stage for state-of-the-art image reconstruction methods to be distributed and applied to next generation interferometric telescopes, where they can be used to meet big data challenges and to make new scientific discoveries in radio astronomy and astrophysics

A fast and exact ww-stacking and ww-projection hybrid algorithm for wide-field interferometric imaging

The standard wide-field imaging technique, the $w$-projection, allows correction for wide-fields of view for non-coplanar radio interferometric arrays. However, calculating exact corrections for each measurement has not been possible due to the amount of computation required at high resolution and with the large number of visibilities from current interferometers. The required accuracy and computational cost of these corrections is one of the largest unsolved challenges facing next generation radio interferometers such as the Square Kilometre Array. We show that the same calculation can be performed with a radially symmetric $w$-projection kernel, where we use one dimensional adaptive quadrature to calculate the resulting Hankel transform, decreasing the computation required for kernel generation by several orders of magnitude, whilst preserving the accuracy. We confirm that the radial $w$-projection kernel is accurate to approximately 1% by imaging the zero-spacing with an added $w$-term. We demonstrate the potential of our radially symmetric $w$-projection kernel via sparse image reconstruction, using the software package PURIFY. We develop a distributed $w$-stacking and $w$-projection hybrid algorithm. We apply this algorithm to individually correct for non-coplanar effects in 17.5 million visibilities over a $25$ by $25$ degree field of view MWA observation for image reconstruction. Such a level of accuracy and scalability is not possible with standard $w$-projection kernel generation methods. This demonstrates that we can scale to a large number of measurements with large image sizes whilst still maintaining both speed and accuracy.Comment: 9 Figures, 19 Pages. Accepted to Ap

Using head-tail galaxies to constrain the intracluster magnetic field: an in-depth study of PKS J0334-3900

We present a multi-wavelength study of the radio galaxy PKS J0334-3900 at the centre of Abell 3135. The spectro-polarimetric radio observations are combined with spectroscopic optical and X-ray data to illustrate the use of Head-Tail radio galaxies to reveal properties of the intracluster medium. ATCA observations at 1.4, 2.5, 4.6 & 8.6 GHz are presented with a detailed analysis of the morphology and spectral indices giving physical parameters to constrain the dynamical history of the galaxy. Using these constraints we produce a simulation of PKS J0334-3900. We find that this Head-Tail morphology can be induced via a combination of orbital motion due to a binary companion and relative motion through the ICM. New Chandra images of A3135 are presented from which we obtain a cluster electron density of n_(e,0) = (1.06 +/- 0.11 x 10^(-3) cm^(-3), a global temperature of 2.4 ^(+0.51)_(-0.38) keV and a lower limit to the radio jet power of PKS J0334-3900 of 1.6 x 10^(44) erg/s. A new redshift analysis of the cluster from available spectroscopic data shows A3135 to be comprised of galaxies with 0.058 < z < 0.066 and gives a new mean cluster redshift of 0.06228 +/- 0.00015. We also uncovered a background subgroup between 0.066 < z < 0.070. Stokes Q and U data of Abell 3135 were used to obtain rotation measure values along the line of sight to PKS J0334-3900. Using our simulation we are able to infer the distance between the jets to be 154 +/- 16 kpc, which when combined with the difference in rotation measure between the jets provides a novel new way to estimate the average magnetic field within a cluster. A lower limit to the cluster B-field was calculated to be 0.09 +/- 0.03 micro Gauss. We show observations of Head-Tail galaxies can be used to infer information on the cluster environment, showing them to be an important class of objects in next generation all sky surveys.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures, accepted to MNRAS. Version 2 corrects a mistake in the average RM between the jets (and hence the lower estimate of the cluster B-field) which was found during proofin

Magneto-tunnelling transport of chiral charge carriers

We study magneto-tunnelling between two parallel two-dimensional electron gases theoretically, where the electrons have a pseudo-spin-½ degree of freedom that is coupled to their momentum. The two-dimensional electron gases focused on in this work are single layer graphene, bilayer graphene, and single layer molybdenum disulphide. The results are derived using a linear response theory formalism in the weak tunnelling regime, and it is assumed that the electron gases are at zero temperature, with no interactions or disorder. The linear magneto-tunnelling conductance characteristics for an applied in-plane and tilted magnetic field are found to strongly depend on the pseudo-spin structure of the tunnelling matrix and the pseudo-spin's dependence on momentum. For instance, resonances in the linear magneto-tunnelling conductance are sensitive to the pseudo-spin tunnel-coupling across the barrier and how the pseudo-spin eigenstates are coupled to momentum. We discuss how measurements of the magneto-tunnelling conductance can be applied as a spectroscopic tool. We explain how to measure the pseudo-spin tunnel-coupling through least squares parameter fitting of the magneto-tunnelling conductance. We show that the parameters are interdependent, one can use the interdependency to test the consistency between theory and experiment. It is expected that measurements of pseudo-spin tunnel-coupling will be a function of the lattice structure of the double layer system, which suggests these measurements can be used as a spectroscopic tool. Additionally, we investigate in-plane electric fields in single layer graphene to see if their effects can be observed in magneto-tunnelling transport. Then, we perturbatively include the effects of electron-electron interactions in single layer graphene, and find it should dampen the linear tunnelling conductance. We investigate tunnel-coupled , parallel , single layer and bilayer graphene systems. We find that using an in-plane magnetic field, one can generate a valley polarized tunnelling current. This method is unique because it does not require manipulation of the single and bilayer graphene samples through nano-structuring, coupling to electromagnetic fields, application of mechanical strain, or the presence of defects. In particular, the valley polarization is dependent on the pseudo-spin tunnel-coupling between the single and bilayer graphene systems, and the strength of an applied in-plane magnetic field. We explicitly show through analytic derivations how an understanding of linear magneto-tunnelling transport (zero bias limit) can be used to understand non-linear magneto-tunnelling transport (finite bias)

Robust sparse image reconstruction of radio interferometric observations with purify

Next-generation radio interferometers, such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), will revolutionise our understanding of the universe through their unprecedented sensitivity and resolution. However, to realise these goals significant challenges in image and data processing need to be overcome. The standard methods in radio interferometry for reconstructing images, such as CLEAN, have served the community well over the last few decades and have survived largely because they are pragmatic. However, they produce reconstructed inter\-ferometric images that are limited in quality and scalability for big data. In this work we apply and evaluate alternative interferometric reconstruction methods that make use of state-of-the-art sparse image reconstruction algorithms motivated by compressive sensing, which have been implemented in the PURIFY software package. In particular, we implement and apply the proximal alternating direction method of multipliers (P-ADMM) algorithm presented in a recent article. First, we assess the impact of the interpolation kernel used to perform gridding and degridding on sparse image reconstruction. We find that the Kaiser-Bessel interpolation kernel performs as well as prolate spheroidal wave functions, while providing a computational saving and an analytic form. Second, we apply PURIFY to real interferometric observations from the Very Large Array (VLA) and the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) and find images recovered by PURIFY are higher quality than those recovered by CLEAN. Third, we discuss how PURIFY reconstructions exhibit additional advantages over those recovered by CLEAN. The latest version of PURIFY, with developments presented in this work, is made publicly available.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figures, PURIFY code available at http://basp-group.github.io/purif