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Recent Developments in Australia

Recent Developments in Australia. Phil Edwards Head of Science Operations CSIRO ATNF. Overview. Recent visits Introduction to the LBA The LBA in 2008 Recent developments eVLBI progress ASKAP Looking ahead. March 2009. The Long Baseline Array (LBA).

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Recent Developments in Australia

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  1. Recent Developments in Australia • Phil Edwards • Head of Science Operations • CSIRO ATNF

  2. Overview • Recent visits • Introduction to the LBA • The LBA in 2008 • Recent developments • eVLBI progress • ASKAP • Looking ahead

  3. March 2009

  4. The Long Baseline Array (LBA) • Operated as a National Facility by ATNF, in close cooperation with University of Tasmania, (Swinburne Institute of Technology) & Curtin University of Technology • ATCA, Mopra, Parkes, Ceduna, Hobart • + Tidbinbilla (70m & 34m), Hartebeesthoek, TIGO, O’Higgins… • Traditionally 3 x ~1 week sessions per year, evolving toward more frequent, shorter sessions • Disk-based recorders • DiFX software correlator • (Deller et al.  2007, PASP, 119, 318) • Proposal deadlines June 15 and December 15

  5. Radio Telescopes in Australia x Katherine x ASKAP x Yarragadee x New Norcia x

  6. The LBA in 2008 • Five sessions • February, March, June, August, November • A total of 25 days • 31 observations • 6x22GHz, 12x8.4GHz, 4x6.7GHz,1x4.8GHz, 5x2.3GHz, 4x1.4GHz • 18 projects -- led by 17 different PIs! • 10 from Australia and 7 from overseas • Including 4 eVLBI (At[Ho]MpPa) observations • ~10% test and development time • Opportunities for EAVN tests

  7. Examples of LBA programs 2008 • VLBI parallaxes of important southern hemisphere pulsars • Physics of Gamma-ray emitting AGN • Southern Hemisphere VLBI Calibrator List • The wind-collision region of HD 93129A • The core of J2310-4347 • VLBI of the PSR B1259-63 system • Proper Motion and Parallax of Methanol Masers • eVLBI observations of a low luminosity GPS sample from the AT20G survey

  8. Recent LBA publications (1/2) • Implications of a VLBI Distance to the Double Pulsar J0737-3039A/B • (Deller et al. 2009 Science 323, 1327) • Precision Southern Hemisphere Pulsar VLBI Astrometry: Techniques and Results for • PSR J1559-4438 • (Deller et al. 2009 ApJ 690, 198) • Extremely High Precision VLBI Astrometry of PSR J0437-4715 and Implications for Theories of Gravity (Deller et al. 2008 ApJ 685, L67) • Fermi/LAT discovery of gamma-ray emission from the flat-spectrum radio quasar PKS 1454-354 • (Abdo et al. 2009 arXiv/0903.1713)

  9. Recent LBA publications (2/2) • The Sub-Parsec Scale Radio Properties of Southern Starburst Galaxies. II. … the NGC 4945 Starburst(Lenc & Tingay 2009 AJ 137, 537) • The first VLBI image of an infrared-faint radio source (Middelberg et al 2008 A&A 491, 435) • The use of the Long Baseline Array in Australia for precise geodesy and absolute astrometry • (Petrov et al. arXiv/0809.0627) • First VLBI observations of methanol maser polarisation, in G339.88-1.26(Dodson 2008, A&A 480, 767) • The VSOP 5 GHz Active Galactic Nucleus Survey. V. Imaging Results for the Remaining 140 Sources (Dodson et al. 2008 ApJS 175, 314)

  10. Recent developments • 2 x 1 Gbps links between ATNF telescopes • Addition of 7mm band (30-50 GHz) to ATCA (to enable tracking of NASA 32 GHz downlink) • Addition of 7mm receiver to Mopra (Jan 2008) • New 12mm receiver for Parkes (June 2008) • Establishment of DiFX software correlator at Curtin • CABB (Compact Array Broadband Backend) upgrade of ATCA to 2GHz bandwidths (from 128 MHz) now! • Addition of “tertiary” 20cm receiver for Ceduna (planned for 2009) • AuScope (talk by Simon Ellingsen)

  11. ATCA CABB shutdown • Shutdown from beginning of March until mid April • New tied array box under construction • ATNF DAS limitation of 64 MHz input b/w

  12. The LBA in 2009 • ATCA and Mopra involvement in “24 hours of eVLBI” for IYA Opening Ceremony in January • eVLBI demo to Curtin last week • VLBI test between Mopra & GMRT this week • 2009APR semester • Mopra involvement in IYA 100hrs of astronomy • 2 July to 6 July (8.4GHz and 22GHz) • 3 Sep to 7 Sep (6.7GHz + …) • AtMpPa eVLBI 6,8,10,13,15,17,20,22,24 July

  13. eVLBI ATCA Mopra To Seattle 10 Gbps Parkes Sydney

  14. eVLBI Current Status • 512 Mbps between At-Mp-Pa is usable for astronomy • 1024 Mbps between At-Mp-Pa to be announced in next call for proposals • 128 Mbps to Hobart not stable and not yet supported for astronomy… • Correlate on computer cluster at Parkes or Curtin or (soon) Narrabri • Successful demonstration with Shanghai and Kashima during eVLBI meeting in Shanghai last June • Participation in EXPRESS project

  15. Image Credit: Paul Boven,

  16. Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) • 36 x 12m dishes, with Phased Array Feeds • Located in WA • Frequency range: 0.7-1.8 GHz (‘SKA mid’) • Develop key technologies and infrastructure for SKA • Characterisation/Maintenance of Radio-Quiet Site • Begin astronomy 2011, complete 2013 • Total Commonwealth investment: A$100M • CSIRO: ATNF & ICTC • International partnerships with Canada, Netherlands, South Africa, US, India

  17. Murchison Radio Observatory Site for ASKAP and MWA (80-300MHz)

  18. Spectrum Measurements: 80MHz – 1.6GHz Sydney Pop. 4 million Narrabri Pop. 6,000 MRO Pop. 4

  19. ASKAP at the Murchison Radio Observatory Antennas 36 x 12m diam. Max baseline 8 km Frequency 700–1800 MHz FOV 30 deg2 Bandwidth 300 MHz Channels 16k PAF 10x10x2 Tsys 35 K First antenna on-site 2009, Six element test array (BETA) in 2010

  20. ASKAP Beamforming Correlator/ Station BF

  21. ASKAP Science • Science with ASKAP: • The Australian Square-Kilometre-Array Pathfinder • (Johnston et al 2008 Exp. Astr. 22, 151) • Galaxy formation & gas evolution • z<0.2 HI survey (1 000 000 galaxies) • Evolution and cosmology • 60 000 000 continuum sources • Magnetic Structure of the Milky Way • 500 000 polarised sources • Evolution of ISM • Atomic, molecular & magnetic components • Pulsars (Timing of 1000 new pulsars) • Radio transient sky • VLBI follow-up with LBA

  22. From ASKAP to SKA….

  23. Looking ahead • Improving eVLBI capabilities of the LBA • 8th eVLBI Workshop 22-26 June in Madrid • Links to New Zealand, India and South America? • VLBI with ASKAP • Improved links with EAVN! • Disk-based recording and/or eVLBI

  24. CSIRO/ATNF Philip Edwards CSIRO ATNF Head of Science Operations Email:Philip.Edwards@csiro.au Web: www.atnf.csiro.au Thank you Contact UsPhone: 1300 363 400 or +61 3 9545 2176Email: Enquiries@csiro.au Web: www.csiro.au

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