UvA MSc Radio Astronomy 2013

Lecture Synopsis (date, title, lecturer)

Course Outline

April 2, 2013 - The History of Radio Astronomy: Past to Present - Jason

Lecture 1

Introduction to the course: lecture structures, 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

April 4, 2013 - The Science of Radio Astronomy: Extragalactic - Michael

Lecture 2

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, 2013 - The Science of Radio Astronomy: Galactic and Solar System - Joeri

Lecture 3

The Milky Way

Clouds of gas, supernovae, pulsars

The Sun

The Giant planets

Radar imaging of the planets, moon, and near-Earth asteroids

April 11, 2013 - Emission Mechanisms in Radio Astronomy - Jason

Lecture 4

Thermal vs. non-thermal observing windows on the Universe

Synchrotron radiation

April 15, 2013 - The Radio Telescope - Joeri

Lecture 5

Antenna response: resolution and beam shapes

Reflector types, collecting area

The signal chain: antenna, receivers, amplifiers, and mixers

Sensitivity: the radiometer equation

April 18, 2013 - The Techniques of Radio Interferometry I: The Basics - Jason

Lecture 6

Motivation for radio interferometry

Two-element interferometer

Basic interferometer equations

Confusion limit

Beam shape

Understanding the UV-plane

April 22, 2013 - The Techniques of Radio Interferometry II: Calibration - Michael

Lecture 7

Definition of Calibration

Visibilities, uv Coverage, Gains, Phases

Real Data, Data Examination, Data Editing

Formalism, Ideal vs. Real Measurements

Calibration Strategies and Effectiveness

April 25, 2013 - The Techniques of Radio Interferometry III: Imaging - Michael

Lecture 8

Imaging and Deconvolution

Image Quality, Noise, Dynamic Range

Wide-band imaging, Multi-frequency Synthesis

Wide-field imaging, Facet Imaging, W-Projection

Mosaicing

May 2, 2013 - Field Trip to LOFAR and Westerbork - Michael + Joeri + Jason + Dario

May 6, 2013 - The Techniques of Time-Domain Radio Astronomy I: Single-dish techniques - Joeri

Main differences between imaging and single-dish time domain astronomy

High-time resolution recording

Interplanetary scintillation

Pulsar properties

Pulsar timing

May 13, 2013 - The Techniques of Time-Domain Radio Astronomy II: High time resolution with interferometers - Jason

Comparison with single-dish observations.

Incoherent vs. coherent summation.

Fly's Eye observations.

Fast imaging.

Advanced techniques.

May 16, 2013 - Project Presentations - Michael + Jason + Dario

May 21, 2013 - The Future of Radio Astronomy - Michael

New Radio Telescopes, MeerKAT, ASKAP, SKA

New Non-radio Telescopes, JWST, ELT, LSST

Computational and Algorithmic Challenges

Networks, Storage, Computing, Databases, Software

Data Intensive Astronomy, Large-scale Data Management, Visualization and Analysis

The Rise of Data Centers, Archives, and the Virtual Observatory

Beyond the SKA

Project Presentations - Michael + Jason + Dario

May 23, 2013 - Final Exam - Dario + one other

Lab Notes

Instructions on installing software to work on the LOFAR Cluster

Proposal Writing

The proposal is 3 page scientific justification, 1 page technical justification, and 1 page references maximum. Final deliverable is a PDF. You can write it as Latex, Word, or otherwise. Templates: PDF | Latex

A few suggestions on writing good observing proposals:

http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/events/xraydio/meetingcont/6.3_fomalont.pdf: First read 5.1, then all of 5, then skip the rest.

http://pulsar.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/black-hole/1stschool/coursematerial/proposals.pdf After page 22, “Tips and Tricks”

http://summerschool2011.oa-cagliari.inaf.it/SSS2011/lectures/110916_01_Casu.pdf First page 21 and following, then rest.

References

Links to other classes

NRAO Essential Radio Astronomy (Condon & Ransom): http://www.cv.nrao.edu/course/astr534/ERA.shtml

NJIT Radio Astronomy Course (Gary): http://web.njit.edu/~gary/728/

Leiden Radio Astronomy Course (Garrett): http://www.astron.nl/~mag/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=radio_astronomy_course_description

Leiden Radio Astronomy Course (Schilizzi): http://home.strw.leidenuniv.nl/~intema/ra2006.htm

Glasgow Radio Astronomy Course (Woan): http://radio.astro.gla.ac.uk/ralectures/

UvA Interferometry (Jaffe): http://home.strw.leidenuniv.nl/~jaffe/interferometry/AMS2/

UvA Radio Astronomy (Strom): http://www.astron.nl/~leeuwen/course/RadioAstronomy_2013/Strom/

NRAO Synthesis Imaging Summer School: http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/events/synthesis/2012/lectures.shtml

U. Calgary radio telescope project: http://www.ras.ucalgary.ca/radiotel/

Reference books

An introdution to Radio Astronomy

Radio Astronomy

High Energy Astrophysics

Tools of Radio Astronomy

Antennas

Interferometry and Synthesis in Radio Astronomy