Radioastronomy

Program

This course is intended for all PhD students at UDP, who wish to have some background on radioastronomy and to conduct observations with current radio astronomical facilities (e.g. ALMA, VLA). Students will learn the basics of radioastronomy techniques (single dish, interferometry) and the astrophysical research that can be done with them.

The course will be conducted in two forms:

• a theoretical side through "guided reading", where several topics will be discussed in a weekly basis, after reading suggested literature (~4 lectures will be given to ignite the reading on a specific topic);

• a large fraction of this course will be spent on a practical "hands-on" side, where the student will explore the basics of data reduction and analysis using standard software packages (GILDAS, CASA), and the preparation of the observational side of a telescope proposal (APEX, ATCA, VLA, ALMA).

When:

Every Monday 10:00am~12:00pm. Running from April 02 until July 02 2020.

Where:

Currently Zoom online call. Regularly at "Sala Reuniones Núcleo de Astronomía"

How:

In this version of the course, we will strongly base our readings and lectures on the book "Essential Radio Astronomy" (ERA) by J. Condon and S. Ransom (Princeton University Press 2016), most of which is available at the website:

https://science.nrao.edu/opportunities/courses/era/ (see also: https://www.cv.nrao.edu/~sransom/web/xxx.html)

Grades:

The course will have four main "tests":

• A theoretical written "take-away" set of problems to be done (bi)weekly (20%)

• A practical assignment (tutorial), where APEX single-dish telescope data will be reduced and analyzed using CLASS/GILDAS; to be done mostly during classes (30%)

• A practical assignment (tutorial), where ATCA/VLA interferometer telescope data will be reduced and analyzed using CASA (30%)

• A practical assignment (tutorial), where the observational side of an ALMA proposal will be prepared and written, using the ALMA Observing Tool. Assignment subject to change to a different interferometer (20%)

Chapters to be reviewed/discussed (from link above):

• Introduction (2 sessions)

• Radiation fundamentals (1 session; assumed to be "known" by student, but a brief review will be done)

• Radio Telescopes and Radiometers (3-4 sessions)

• Free-free and Synchrotron radiation (2 session)

• Spectral lines (2 sessions)

• Pulsars (optional)

Important links

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Additional suggested reading

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