Syllabus

Objective: radio astronomy and interferometric imaging

Interferometric astrophysical observations are a vast and deep topic. The goal of this module component is to help students develop a practical understanding of how radio interferometers (in particular arrays like the VLA or ALMA) observe an astrophysical source, build a mathematical foundation for working with complex-valued, Fourier-plane data, and survey some of the many approaches that are used to investigate astrophysical phenomena, focusing on forward-modeling and regularised maximum likelihood techniques.

Instructor

Office hours by appointment. J.F. Allen building, Rm. 308.

If you are in any way feeling ill or suspect you might have been contact with an individual infected with COVID, please stay home and seek medical care if necessary. We plan on posting all lecture notes, and we will work with you to provide you with the course materials you need.

Course Grade

The course grade (100%) will be assessed via a 2 hour written examination.

Tutorials

This module component will have 2 tutorial sessions, as listed in the schedule. These in-class, interactive sessions will be used to build practical understanding of the module material and apply your knowledge to solving the types of problems frequently encountered in radio astronomy research.

Tutorial problems will be distributed via Moodle approximately one week in advance. You are encouraged to collaborate and work through the tutorial problems together, in advance, with other members of the module. However, each student should be prepared to discuss their answers on their own during the tutorial session.

Programming

Some tutorial problems may require a small amount of programming. Students are encouraged to use whatever programming language they are most comfortable with. IC is most familiar with Python and Julia, so he will be more able to assist you with those.

Reference Materials

There are many additional resources that will be helpful during this course (and beyond) and will be called out in the course at the appropriate juncture. Many of these resources are freely available online or through the University library.

Textbooks

Courses

Videos