Astronomy at High Angular Resolution: A Compendium of Techniques in the Visible and Near-Infrared

284 Pages·2016·10.31 MB·English

by  Henri M. J. Boffin

Astrophysics and Space Science Library 439
Henri M.J. Boffi n
Gaitee Hussain
Jean-Philippe Berger
Linda Schmidtobreick
Editors
Astronomy at
High Angular
Resolution
A Compendium of Techniques in
the Visible and Near-Infrared
Astronomy at High Angular Resolution
Astrophysics and Space Science Library
EDITORIAL BOARD
Chairman
W.B.BURTON,NationalRadioAstronomyObservatory,Charlottesville,
Virginia,U.S.A.([email protected]);UniversityofLeiden,TheNetherlands
([email protected])
F.BERTOLA,UniversityofPadua,Italy
C.J.CESARSKY,CommissionforAtomicEnergy,Saclay,France
P.EHRENFREUND,LeidenUniversity,TheNetherlands
O.ENGVOLD,UniversityofOslo,Norway
A.HECK,StrasbourgAstronomicalObservatory,France
E.P.J.VANDENHEUVEL,UniversityofAmsterdam,TheNetherlands
V.M.KASPI,McGillUniversity,Montreal,Canada
J.M.E.KUIJPERS,UniversityofNijmegen,TheNetherlands
H.VANDERLAAN,UniversityofUtrecht,TheNetherlands
P.G.MURDIN,InstituteofAstronomy,Cambridge,UK
B.V.SOMOV,AstronomicalInstitute,MoscowStateUniversity,Russia
R.A.SUNYAEV,SpaceResearchInstitute,Moscow,Russia
Moreinformationaboutthisseriesathttp://www.springer.com/series/5664
Henri M.J. Boffin • Gaitee Hussain •
Jean-Philippe Berger • Linda Schmidtobreick
Editors
Astronomy at High Angular
Resolution
A Compendium of Techniques in the Visible
and Near-Infrared
123
Editors
HenriM.J.Boffin GaiteeHussain
ESOVitacura ESO
SantiagodeChile,Chile Garching,Germany
Jean-PhilippeBerger LindaSchmidtobreick
ESOVitacura ESOVitacura
SantiagodeChile,Chile SantiagodeChile,Chile
ISSN0067-0057 ISSN2214-7985 (electronic)
AstrophysicsandSpaceScienceLibrary
ISBN978-3-319-39737-5 ISBN978-3-319-39739-9 (eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-39739-9
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016950588
©SpringerInternationalPublishingSwitzerland2016
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Coverillustration:ESO’sVeryLargeTelescopeisequippedwithmanyinstrumentsforhigh-resolution
astronomy, including a laser for adaptive optics and an interferometer. The insert shows several
applicationsofhighangularresolutionastronomy.Credit:N.Boffin/ESO/S.Brunier.
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(Heraclitus)

Preface
Recent years have seen a huge developmentin high-resolutionastronomicaltech-
niques,which are critical to progressin manydifferentareas of astronomy.These
techniques can be divided in direct methods, interferometry, and reconstruction
methods.
In 2001, a very successful book was produced in the LNP Springer Series
about “astrotomography”,a generic term for indirect mapping (or reconstruction)
techniquesthatcan be appliedto a hugevariety of astrophysicalsystems, ranging
fromplanetsviasinglestarsandbinariestoactivegalacticnuclei.Giventhemany
past and coming improvementsin instrumentation and telescopes, it was deemed
necessary to revisit the landscape.It is also usefulto putthis in a broadercontext
of high angular resolution astronomy, as many other techniques, from lucky and
speckleimaging,toadaptiveoptics,tointerferometry,arenowbecomingmoreand
moreusedandhaveled toanamazingnumberofnewdiscoveries.Moreover,itis
indeedoftennecessarytocombineallthesetechniquestogetherin ordertohavea
coherentandcomprehensiveideaofalltheprocessesatworkinagivenastronomical
environment.
In November 2014, a workshop was therefore held at the ESO headquarters
in Garching, Germany, bringing together people from different communities who
use various techniques to construct images at very high angular resolution. The
workshop included many invited talks, and the scientific organisers thought that
giventhequalityofthetalks,itwouldbeveryusefultopublishafullyeditedbook,
whereeachoftheinvitedspeakerswouldwriteachapteronagiventechniqueorits
application.Thebookyouareholdinginyourhandistheresultofthis,anditisthus
notonlyanupdateoftheAstrotomographybookbutisclearlymuchwiderinscope,
giventhatitcoversmoremethodsandtechniques,aswellasmorescientificfields.
Thebookthusreviewsthesemethods,theprogressinthefield,andthenewharvest
of results that were collected, as well as aims at preparing the next generation of
astronomerstousethesetoolsandtechniques.Itisthehopeoftheeditorsthatthis
bookwillfulfilallthesegoals.
As is clear fromthe table of contents, high-resolutiontechniquescoverquite a
rangeofastronomicaltopics,fromstellarsurfacesandbinarystarstoactivegalactic
vii
viii Preface
nuclei.Weshouldnote,however,thatthisbookonlycoverstechniquesusedinthe
optical and infrared domain – we have on purpose not addressed high-resolution
radioobservations,forwhichspecialisedreviewsandbooksarealreadyavailable.
ESOVitacura,Chile HenriM.J.Boffin
April2016
Contents
1 LuckyImaginginAstronomy............................................. 1
WolfgangBrandnerandFelixHormuth
1.1 MotivationsforEmployingLuckyImagingTechniques........... 1
1.2 AtmosphericSeeing“101”andLuckyImaging.................... 2
1.2.1 AngularResolutionandtheFriedParameterr0........... 3
1.2.2 StrehlRatio ................................................. 3
1.2.3 CoherenceTime(cid:2)0 ......................................... 3
1.2.4 ProbabilityofLuckyImaging.............................. 4
1.3 LuckyImagingPrecursors........................................... 6
1.4 TechnicalImplementation ........................................... 7
1.5 ObservingandDataReductionStrategy ............................ 10
1.6 LuckyImagingComparedtoOtherHigh-Angular
ResolutionTechniques............................................... 11
1.6.1 PassiveTechniques......................................... 12
1.6.2 ActiveTechniques.......................................... 12
1.6.3 CombiningPassiveandActiveTechniques ............... 12
1.6.4 AdditionalAdvantagesand Limitations
ofLuckyImaging........................................... 13
1.7 ExamplesforInstrumentationandScience ......................... 13
1.8 SummaryandOutlook............................................... 14
References.................................................................... 15
2 AdaptiveOpticsinHigh-ContrastImaging ............................. 17
JulienMilli,DimitriMawet,DavidMouillet,MarkusKasper,
andJulienH.Girard
2.1 Introduction........................................................... 17
2.1.1 ScienceCase................................................ 17
2.1.2 Requirements ............................................... 18
2.1.3 From Pioneering Adaptive Optics
ExperimentstoExtremeAdaptiveOpticsSystem ........ 21
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