ISSN 0037-9565
Volume 74 - Année 2005 -- Numéros 1-2- 3

Type de document : Article
Andreas Quirrenbach

Extremely Large Synthesis Array : Science and Technology

Technology roadmap for future interferometric facilities, Proceedings of the European Interferometry Initiative Workshop organized in the context of the 2005 Join European and National Astronomy Meeting "Distant Worlds", 6 - 8 July 2005, Liège University, Institute of Astrophysics, Edited by J. Surdej, D. Caro, and A. Detal

Abstract

An Extremely Large Synthesis Array (ELSA) with 27 ten-meter telescopes and baseline lengths up to 10 km could provide completely new insight into many astrophysics phenomena.  It could be used to obtain resolved images of nearby brown dwarfs which would reveal weather phenomena in their atmospheres, to give detailed pictures of stellar surfaces, interacting binaries, and circumstellar material, to study general-relativistic effects on the orbits of stars near the center of our Galaxy, to obtain �movies� of expanding supernovae, to image the broad-line regions of active galaxies, and to measure the geometry of the fireballs producing the afterglow of gamma-ray bursts.  Observations of faint objects will be possible by using an external reference star (within the isoplanatic angle) to co-phase the array.  Telescopes with large diameters are essential to provide good sky coverage in this observing mode.  The use of optical fibers for beam transport and delay compensation is highly desirable, as this eliminates the need for an expensive beam train with meter-sized optical elements, and a very large vacuum system.  The most challenging aspect of fiber-coupled interferometry is dispersion in the fibers, which has to be eliminated or compensated precisely.  Advances in telescope technology and fiber optics expected for the next decade may bring the cost of a facility similar to the ELSA concept discussed here into a range that would be affordable as an international project.

Documents annexes

Il y a 1 document annexé à cet article.

Pour citer cet article :

Andreas Quirrenbach. «Extremely Large Synthesis Array : Science and Technology». Bulletin de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liège, Volume 74 - Année 2005  Numéros 1-2- 3 : 43-56
http://popups.ulg.ac.be/SRSL/document.php?id=320

Quelques mots à propos de :  Andreas  Quirrenbach

Sterrewacht Leiden, The Netherlands

  affiliation : Sterrewacht Leiden, The Netherlands
Article précédent
Précédent
  Article suivant
Suivant

Le portail PoPuPS est une réalisation du Réseau des Bibliothèques de l'Université de Liège