UvA MSc Radio Astronomy 2015
Important Deadlines/Dates
(All requested assignment materials should be sent to Jason at “j.w.t.hessels@uva.nl”)
Fri April 17: Outline of mock observing proposal.
Wed April 29: Results of simulate your own interferometer practicum.
Fri May 1: First draft of mock observing proposal.
Wed May 6: Field trip to ASTRON, Westerbork and LOFAR (All Day).
Fri May 15: Results of VLA interferometric imaging data analysis practicum.
Tue May 19: Oral presentations (15min talk + 5min questions) of the mock observing proposals (09:00 - 13:00; room TBD).
Wed May 20: Results of LOFAR pulsar searching/timing data analysis practicum.
Fri May 22: Final version of written mock observing proposal.
Wed May 27: Final exam.
Summary of Practicum Sessions
(See also detailed descriptions below)
Mon March 30: Setup computing environment.
Wed April 1: Short lecture on how to write an observing proposal (see slides below).
Wed April 8: Discuss observing proposal ideas in a group (outside!).
Mon April 13: Discuss observing proposal ideas one-on-one.
Wed April 15: Work on observing proposal yourself.
Mon April 20: Simulate your own interferometer - session I.
Wed April 22: Simulate your own interferometer - session II.
Wed April 29: Calibrate and image VLA data - session I.
Wed May 6: Field trip to ASTRON, Westerbork and LOFAR.
Mon May 11: Calibrate and image VLA data - session II.
Wed May 13: Search and time pulsar in LOFAR data - session I.
Mon May 18: Search and time pulsar in LOFAR data - session II.
Tue May 19 (shifted from Wed May 20): Mock observing proposal presentations.
Lecture Synopsis (date, title, lecturers/TAs)
March 30, 2015 - The History of Radio Astronomy: Past to Present - Jason
Lecture 1 (lecture slides including extra notes)
Introduction to the course: course structure, goals, lectures, practica, etc.
Maxwell, Hertz, Marconi
Karl Jansky
Grote Reber
Technological developments during WWII
The post-war dawn of radio astronomy
Great discoveries in the first half century of radio astronomy
Radio astronomy in the context of multi-wavelength astronomy
The radio telescope as IT instrument
Lecture 2 (lecture slides including extra notes)
Radio Astronomy for Extragalactic Science
Nearby Galaxies, Mapping HI, Dynamics, Magnetic Fields
Nearby Galaxies, Astrometry, SNR, GRBs, Mapping HI, Dynamics,
Star Formation, FIR-Radio Correlation, Lensing
Radio Galaxies, AGN, Jets, Quasars, Gas Flows, and Radio Source Evolution
Galaxy Groups and Clusters, Feedback, Black Hole Growth, Relics, Halos, and Shocks
Cosmic Microwave Background, S-Z Effect, EoR, Cosmology and Large-scale Structure
April 8, 2015 - The Science of Radio Astronomy: Galactic and Solar System - Joeri
Lecture 3 (lecture slides including extra notes)
The Milky Way
Clouds of gas, supernovae, pulsars
The Sun
The Giant planets
Radar imaging of the planets, moon, and near-Earth asteroids
April 13, 2015 - Emission Mechanisms in Radio Astronomy - Jason
Lecture 4 (lecture slides including extra notes)
Thermal vs.non-thermal emission
Continuum vs. line emission
Blackbody radiation from the CMB and dust
Free-free emission (thermal bremstrahlung)
Radio recombination lines
21-cm line
Molecular vibration and rotation lines
MASERs
Cyclotron radiation
Synchrotron radiation
Inverse Compton radiation
Synchrotron self-Compton radiation
Propagation effects
April 15, 2015 - The Radio Telescope - Joeri
Lecture 5 (lecture slides, all notes included on slide text)
Antenna response: resolution and beam shapes
Reflector types, collecting area
The signal chain: antenna, receivers, amplifiers, and mixers
Sensitivity: the radiometer equation
April 20, 2015 - The Techniques of Radio Interferometry I: The Basics - Jason
Lecture 6 (lecture slides including extra notes)
Motivation for radio interferometry
Two-element interferometer
Basic interferometer equations
Beam shape
Understanding the UV-plane
Preparing for the “Simulate your own interferometer” practicum
April 22, 2015 - The Techniques of Radio Interferometry II: Calibration - Michael
Lecture 7 (lecture slides including extra notes)
Definition of Calibration
Visibilities, uv Coverage, Gains, Phases
Real Data, Data Examination, Data Editing
Formalism, Ideal vs. Real Measurements
Calibration Strategies and Effectiveness
April 29, 2015 - The Techniques of Radio Interferometry III: Imaging - Michael
Lecture 8 (lecture slides including extra notes)
Imaging and Deconvolution
Image Quality, Noise, Dynamic Range
Wide-band imaging, Multi-frequency Synthesis
Wide-field imaging, Facet Imaging, W-Projection
Mosaicing
May 6, 2015 - Field Trip to LOFAR and Westerbork - All
May 11, 2015 - The Techniques of Time-Domain Radio Astronomy I: Single-dish techniques - Joeri
Lecture 9 (lecture slides including extra notes)
May 13, 2015 - The Techniques of Time-Domain Radio Astronomy II: High time resolution with interferometers - Jason
May 18, 2015 - The Future of Radio Astronomy - Michael
May 19, 2015 - Observing proposal presentations - All
May 27, 2015 - Final Exam - Jason + Daniele + Amruta
Practica (projects, dates, goals, materials)
Set up computing environment
Goal : Get you connected to the prepared computing environment.
Expected time : 1-2hrs
Sessions :
Materials : see printed instructions.
Mock observing proposal
Goal : Synthesize your scientific, theoretical and technical knowledge of radio astronomy by writing a mock observing proposal for a real radio telescope. Who knows: you might even want to submit it for real! The proposal is 3-4 page scientific justification (including figures), 1 page technical justification, and 1 page references maximum. Final deliverable is a PDF. You can write it as Latex, Word, or otherwise. See template below, under “Materials”.
Expected time : ~48hrs
Contribution to total grade : 35% (20% for written proposal; 15% for oral presentation)
Sessions :
April 1 - Get some tips on how to write your proposal (see lecture notes below, under “Materials”).
April 8 - Start discussing proposal ideas with the lecturers.
April 13 - Disc proposal ideas one on one with Jason; Prepare a first outline to submit by Fri April 17
April 15 - Prepare a first outline to submit by Fri April 17
May 19 - Final presentations
Materials :
Advice on how to write your observing proposal
Proposal template .pdf
Proposal template .tex.gz (need to "gunzip")
Example observing proposal
Proposal plans and assigned “mentor”
Timo: Probing gas in interacting galaxies - Michael
Peter: Crab pulsar giant pulses - Joeri
Daan: Fast radio bursts to probe the intergalactic medium - Joeri
Sebastiaan: Intermediate Mass Black Holes as the mechanism behind Hyperluminous X-ray Sources - Jason
Ziggy: Polarization in nearby galaxies and possible relation to star formation - Michael
Okan: Dust formation in Supernova Remnants - Jason
Sarah: 21-cm cosmology - Michael
Bas: Kilonovae triggered based on LIGO gravitational wave events - Joeri
David: X-ray/radio luminosity relation for neutron stars - Jason
Coen: Stellar mass black holes switching off/onto the fundamental plane - Jason
Simulate your own interferometer
Goal : Deepen your understanding of how a radio interferometer works by simulating your own radio telescope from scratch using Python.
Expected time : ~16hrs
Contribution to total grade : 10%
Sessions :
April 20 - Start writing your script to simulate the synthesized beams of various interferometer configurations.
April 22 - Get close to finishing your script and plots. Assignment is due Wed April 29th.
Materials :
Assignment and tips
Make a VLA interferometric image
Goal : Make you first radio interferometric image and understand the underlying calibration process and methods.
Expected time : ~24hrs
Contribution to total grade : 15%
Sessions :
Materials :
See above.
Field trip to Westerbork and LOFAR
Goals :
Expected time : ~9hrs
Contribution to total grade : 0% (but expect to learn a few things that may appear on the Final Exam)
Sessions :
Materials :
"Discover" and characterize a radio pulsar
Goals : Learn how to “discover” a radio pulsar in radio telescope and then characterize its properties.
Expected time : ~4hrs
Contribution to total grade : 10%
Sessions :
Materials :
PSR Practicum data and assignment
Further References for Radio Astronomy
We stress that the course lecture and practica notes should serve as a self contained guide for the course (i.e. these should be sufficient background to complete the practica and write the exam, though for the mock observing proposal you will definitely need to do some independent reading of sources relevant to your chosen topic). Nonetheless, here are some of links to radio astronomy learning materials.
Links to other classes
Reference books