Andreas Glindemann

Mid-infrared sizes of circumstellar disks around Herbig Ae/Be stars measured with MIDI on the VLTI

We present the first long baseline mid-infrared interferometric observations of the circumstellar disks surrounding Herbig Ae/Be stars. The observations were obtained using the mid-infrared interferometric instrument MIDI at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Very Large Telescope Interferometer VLTI on Cerro Paranal. The 102 m baseline given by the telescopes UT1 and UT3 was employed, which provides a maximum full spatial resolution of 20 milli-arcsec (mas) at a wave- length of 10 µm. The interferometric signal was spectrally dispersed at a resolution of 30, giving spectrally resolved visibility information from 8 µm to 13.5 µm. We observed seven nearby Herbig Ae/Be stars and resolved all objects. The warm dust disk of HD 100546 could even be resolved in single-telescope imaging. Characteristic dimensions of the emitting regions at 10 µm are found to be from 1 AU to 10 AU. The 10 µm sizes of our sample stars correlate with the slope of the 10-25 µm infrared spectrum in the sense that the reddest objects are the largest ones. Such a correlation would be consistent with a different ge- ometry in terms of flaring or flat (self-shadowed) disks for sources with strong or moderate mid-infrared excess, respectively. We compare the observed spectrally resolved visibilities with predictions based on existing models of passive centrally irra- diated hydrostatic disks made to fit the SEDs of the observed stars. We find broad qualitative agreement of the spectral shape of visibilities corresponding to these models with our observations. Quantitatively, there are discrepancies that show the need for a next step in modelling of circumstellar disks, satisfying both the spatial constraints such as are now available from the MIDI observations and the flux constraints from the SEDs in a consistent way.

The MUSE second-generation VLT instrument

Summary: The Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) is a second-generation VLT panoramic integral-field spectrograph currently in manufacturing, assembly and integration phase. MUSE has a field of 1x1 arcmin2 sampled at 0.2x0.2 arcsec2 and is assisted by the VLT ground layer adaptive optics ESO facility using four laser guide stars. The instrument is a large assembly of 24 identical high performance integral field units, each one composed of an advanced image slicer, a spectrograph and a 4kx4k detector. In this paper we review the progress of the manufacturing and report the performance achieved with the first integral field unit.

The VLT Interferometer: a unique instrument for high-resolution astronomy

The Very Large Telescope (VLT) Observatory on Cerro Paranal (2635 m) in Northern Chile is approaching completion in this year when the fourth of the 8-m Unit Telescopes will see first light. At the same time, the preparation for first fringes of the VLT Interferometer (VLTI) is advancing rapidly with the goal of having the first fringes with two siderostats within this year. In this article we describe the status of the VLTI and its subsystems, we discuss the planning for first fringes with the different telescopes and instruments. Eventually, we present an outlook for the future of interferometry with Very Large Telescopes.

Integrated optics for astronomical interferometry - VI. Coupling the light of the VLTI in K band

Aims. Our objective is to prove that integrated optics (IO) is not o nly a good concept for astronomical interferometry but also a working technique with high performance. Methods. We used the commissioning data obtained with the dedicated K-band integrated optics two-telescope beam combiner which now replaces the fiber coupler MONA in the VLTI/VINCI instrument. We characterize the behaviour of this IO device and compare its properties to other single mode beam combiner like the previously used MONA fiber coupler. Results. The IO combiner provides a high optical throughput, a contrast of 89% with a night-to-night stability of a few percent. Even if a dispersive phase is present, we show that it does not bias the measured Fourier visibility estimate. An upper limit of 5× 10 −3 for the cross-talk between linear polarization states has been measured. We take advantage of the intrinsic contrast stability to test a ne w astronomical prodecure for calibrating diameters of simple stars by simultaneousl y fitting the instrumental contrast and the apparent stellar diameters. This method reaches an accuracy with diameter errors of the order of previous ones but without the need of an already known calibrator. Conclusions. These results are an important step of integrated optics, si nce they prove its maturity in an astronomical band where the technology has been specially developed for astronomical conveniences. It paves the road to incoming imaging interferometer projects.

Adaptive Optics on Large Telescopes

Observations withground based telescopes suffer from atmospheric turbulence.Independent of the telescope size the angular resolution inthe visible is equivalent to that of a telescope with adiameter of 10–20 cm. This effect is caused by the turbulentmixing of air with different temperatures in the atmosphere.Thus, the perfect plane wave from a star at infinity isaberrated before it enters the telescope. In the following,we will discuss the physical background of imaging throughturbulence, using Kolmogorov statistics, and the differenttechniques to sense and to correct the wave-front aberrationswith adaptive optics. The requirements for the control loop ofan adaptive optics system are discussed including formulas forthe limiting magnitude of the guide star as a function of thewave-front sensing method, of the quality of the wave-frontsensor camera, and of the degree of correction. Finally, ashort introduction to deformable mirror technology will begiven followed by the presentation of a new method to measureand to distinguish individual turbulent layers in order toincrease the isoplanatic angle.

The VLTI – A Status Report

The Very Large Telescope (VLT) Observatory on Cerro Paranal (2635 m) in Northern Chile is approaching completion. After the four 8-m Unit Telescopes (UT) individually saw first light in the last years, two of them were combined for the first time on October 30, 2001 to form a stellar interferometer, the VLT Interferometer. The remaining two UTs will be integrated into the interferometric array later this year. In this article, we will describe the subsystems of the VLTI and the planning for the following years.

Near-IR speckle imaging of massive young stellar objects

We present near-IR speckle images of 21 massive Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) associated with outflows. The aim of this study is to search for sub-arcsecond reflection nebulae associated with the outflow cavity. We find that 6 of the massive YSOs show a conical nebula which can be interpreted in terms of reflected light from the dusty walls of the outflow cavity. In all cases, the small scale structures seen in our images are compared with outflow indicators found in the literature. No clear correlation is found between the presence of the reflection nebulosity and any property such as degree of embeddedness. We also note that 3 of the sources show close companions, one of them belonging also to the sample with conical nebula.

Phase-referenced imaging and micro-arcsecond astrometry with the VLTI

An update of the current status and schedule of PRIMA (Phase-Referenced Imaging and Micro-arcsecond Astrometry) developed for the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) is given, with emphasis on the astrometric objectives, performances and technological challenges. PRIMA will allow to observe simultaneously two fields separated by 2 to 60 arcsec, to detect and track the fringes on the brightest object, to detect the fringes on the faintest, and to measure the phase of the secondary set of fringes relative to the primary one, with an accuracy of (lambda) /1000 at 2 micrometers .

Optimized fringe tracker for the VLTI/PRIMA instrument

This paper presents new concepts for a Fringe Sensor Unit (FSU) optimized for high accuracy and low flux operation. This concept has been studied for the VLTI/PRIMA instrument in the H (and K) bands. To optimize both photon use and accuracy, an efficient spatial achromatic discrete modulation is chosen. For optical path difference measurements, most of the photons are used in a single polychromatic quadrature while the adjustable remaining part is dispersed for simultaneous group delay tracking. Integration time can be very short since no moving device is used. This FSU can also be turned to a classical two quadratures FSU if needed, for differential delay or visibility measurements. Optical designs for these FSUs are proposed. These simple designs are also very well suited to future space instruments. Theoretical performance and simulation results are finally given and compared to other existing devices.

VLTI technical advances: present and future

The Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) on Cerro Paranal (2635 m) in Northern Chile reached a major milestone in September 2003 when the mid infrared instrument MIDI was offered for scientific observations to the community. This was only nine months after MIDI had recorded first fringes. In the meantime, the near infrared instrument AMBER saw first fringes in March 2004, and it is planned to offer AMBER in September 2004. The large number of subsystems that have been installed in the last two years - amongst them adaptive optics for the 8-m Unit Telescopes (UT), the first 1.8-m Auxiliary Telescope (AT), the fringe tracker FINITO and three more Delay Lines for a total of six, only to name the major ones - will be described in this article. We will also discuss the next steps of the VLTI mainly concerned with the dual feed system PRIMA and we will give an outlook to possible future extensions.