Shu-Hao Chang

The AMiBA Hexapod Telescope Mount

The Array for Microwave Background Anisotropy (AMiBA) is the largest hexapod astronomical telescope in current operation. We present a description of this novel hexapod mount with its main mechanical components—the support cone, universal joints, jack screws, and platform—and outline the control system with the pointing model and the operating modes that are supported. The AMiBA hexapod mount performance is verified based on optical pointing tests and platform photogrammetry measurements. The photogrammetry results show that the deformations in the inner part of the platform are less than 120 μm rms. This is negligible for optical pointing corrections, radio alignment, and radio phase errors for the currently operational seven-element compact configuration. The optical pointing error in azimuth and elevation is successively reduced by a series of corrections to about 0 4 rms which meets our goal for the seven-element target specifications.

AMiBA WIDEBAND ANALOG CORRELATOR

A wideband analog correlator has been constructed for the Yuan-Tseh Lee Array for Microwave Background Anisotropy. Lag correlators using analog multipliers provide large bandwidth and moderate frequency resolution. Broadband intermediate frequency distribution, back-end signal processing, and control are described. Operating conditions for optimum sensitivity and linearity are discussed. From observations, a large effective bandwidth of around 10 GHz has been shown to provide sufficient sensitivity for detecting cosmic microwave background variations.

Platform deformation refined pointing and phase correction for the AMiBA hexapod telescope

The Array for Microwave Background Anisotropy (AMiBA) is a radio interferometer for research in cosmology, currently operating 7 0.6m diameter antennas co-mounted on a 6m diameter platform driven by a hexapod mount. AMiBA is currently the largest hexapod telescope. We briefly summarize the hexapod operation with the current pointing error model. We then focus on the upcoming 13-element expansion with its potential difficulties and solutions. Photogrammetry measurements of the platform reveal deformations at a level which can affect the optical pointing and the receiver radio phase. In order to prepare for the 13-element upgrade, two optical telescopes are installed on the platform to correlate optical pointing tests. Being mounted on different locations, the residuals of the two sets of pointing errors show a characteristic phase and amplitude difference as a function of the platform deformation pattern. These results depend on the telescopes azimuth, elevation and polarization position. An analytical model for the deformation is derived in order to separate the local deformation induced error from the real hexapod pointing error. Similarly, we demonstrate that the deformation induced radio phase error can be reliably modeled and calibrated, which allows us to recover the ideal synthesized beam in amplitude and shape of up to 90% or more. The resulting array efficiency and its limits are discussed based on the derived errors.

Control and monitoring system for the Greenland telescope: computers, network and software

We describe the control and monitoring system for the Greenland Telescope (GLT). The GLT is a 12-m radio telescope aiming to carry out the sub-millimeter Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations and image the shadow of the super massive black hole in M87. In November 2017 construction has been finished and commissioning activity has been started. In April 2018 we participated in the VLBI observing campaign for the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration. In this paper we present the entire GLT control/monitoring system in terms of computers, network and software.

AMiBA: Cluster Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect Observations with the Expanded 13-Element Array

The Yuan-Tseh Lee Array for Microwave Background Anisotropy (AMiBA) is a co-planar interferometer array operating at a wavelength of 3 mm to measure the Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect (SZE) of galaxy clusters at arcminute scales. The first phase of operation ‐ with a compact 7-element array with 0.6 m antennas (AMiBA7) ‐ observed six clusters at angular scales from 5 0 to 23 0 . Here, we describe the expansion of AMiBA to a 13-element array with 1.2 m antennas (AMiBA-13), its subsequent commissioning, and cluster SZE observing program. The most noticeable changes compared to AMiBA-7 are (1) array re-configuration with baselines ranging from 1.4 m to 4.8 m, allowing us to sample structures between 2 0 and 10 0 , (2) thirteen new lightweight carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) 1.2 m reflectors, and (3) additional correlators and six new receivers. Since the reflectors are co-mounted on and distributed over the entire six-meter CFRP platform, a refined hexapod pointing error model and phase error correction scheme have been developed for AMiBA-13. These effects ‐ entirely negligible for the earlier central close-packed AMiBA-7 configuration ‐ can lead to additional geometrical delays during observations. Our correction scheme recovers at least 80 5% of point source fluxes. We, therefore, apply an upward correcting factor of 1.25 to our visibilities to correct for phase decoherence, and a 5% systematic uncertainty is added in quadrature with our statistical errors. We demonstrate the absence of further systematics with a noise level consistent with zero in stackeduv-visibilities. From the AMiBA-13 SZE observing program, we present here maps of a subset of twelve clusters with signal-to-noise ratios above five. We demonstrate combining AMiBA-7 with AMiBA-13 observations on Abell 1689, by jointly fitting their data to a generalized Navarro‐Frenk‐White (gNFW) model. Our cylindrically-integrated Compton-y values for five radii are consistent with results from the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Array (BIMA), Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO), Sunyaev-Zel’dovich Array (SZA), and the Planck Observatory. We also report the first targeted SZE detection towards the optically selected cluster RCS J1447+0828, and we demonstrate the ability of AMiBA SZE data to serve as a proxy for the total cluster mass. Finally, we show that our AMiBA-SZE derived cluster masses are consistent with recent lensing mass measurements in the literature. Subject headings: cosmology: cosmic background radiation — galaxies: clusters: general — instrumentation: interferometers

Electronics instrumentation for the Greenland telescope

The Greenland Telescope project has recently participated in an experiment to image the supermassive black hole shadow at the center of M87 using Very Long Baseline Interferometry technique in April of 2018. The antenna consists of the 12-m ALMA North American prototype antenna that was modified to support two auxiliary side containers and to withstand an extremely cold environment. The telescope is currently at Thule Air Base in Greenland with the long-term goal to move the telescope over the Greenland ice sheet to Summit Station. The GLT currently has a single cryostat which houses three dual polarization receivers that cover 84-96 GHz, 213-243 GHz and 271-377 GHz bands. A hydrogen maser frequency source in conjunction with high frequency synthesizers are used to generate the local oscillator references for the receivers. The intermediate frequency outputs of each receiver cover 4-8 GHz and are heterodyned to baseband for digitization within a set of ROACH-2 units then formatted for recording onto Mark-6 data recorders. A separate set of ROACH-2 units operating in parallel provides the function of auto-correlation for real-time spectral analysis. Due to the stringent instrumental stability requirements for interferometry a diagnostic test system was incorporated into the design. Tying all of the above equipment together is the fiber optic system designed to operate in a low temperature environment and scalable to accommodate a larger distance between the control module and telescope for Summit Station. A report on the progress of the above electronics instrumentation system will be provided.