Very long baseline interferometry with the SKA

Adding VLBI capability to the SKA arrays will greatly broaden the science of the SKA, and is feasible within the current specifications. SKA-VLBI can be initially implemented by providing phased-array outputs for SKA1-MID and SKA1-SUR and using these extremely sensitive stations with other radio tel...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Paragi, Z., Godfrey, L., Reynolds, C., Rioja, M., Deller, A., Zhang, B., Gurvits, L., Bietenholz, M., Szomoru, A., Bignall, H., Boven, P., Charlot, P., Dodson, R., Frey, S., Garrett, M., Imai, H., Lobanov, A., Reid, M., Ros, E., Van Langevelde, H., Zensus, J., Zheng, X., Alberdi, A., Agudo, I., An, T., Argo, M., Beswick, R., Biggs, A., Brunthaler, A., Campbell, R., Cimó, G., Colomer, F., Corbel, S., Conway, J., Cseh, D., Deane, R., Falcke, H., Gabányi, K., Gawronski, M., Gaylard, M., Giovannini, G., Giroletti, M., Goddi, C., Goedhart, S., Gómez, J., Gunn, A., Jung, T., Kharb, P., Klöckner, H., Körding, E., Kovalev, Y., Kunert-Bajraszewska, M., Lindqvist, M., Lister, M., Mantovani, F., Martí-Vidal, I., Mezcua, M., Mckean, J., Middelberg, E., Miller-Jones, James, Moldon, J., Muxlow, T., O'brien, T., Pérez-Torres, M., Pogrebenko, S., Quick, J., Rushton, A., Schilizzi, R., Smirno, O., Sohn, B., Surcis, G., Taylor, G., Tingay, S., Tudose, V., Van Der Horst, A., Van Leeuwen, J., Venturi, T., Vermeulen, R., Vlemmings, W., De Witt, A., Wucknitz, O., Yang, J.
Format: Journal Article
Published: SPIE - Internatioal Society for Optocal Engineering 2014
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/4810
Description
Summary:Adding VLBI capability to the SKA arrays will greatly broaden the science of the SKA, and is feasible within the current specifications. SKA-VLBI can be initially implemented by providing phased-array outputs for SKA1-MID and SKA1-SUR and using these extremely sensitive stations with other radio telescopes, and in SKA2 by realising a distributed configuration providing baselines up to thousands of km, merging it with existing VLBI networks. The motivation for and the possible realization of SKA-VLBI is described in this paper.