New Mexico Synthesis Imaging Workshop

Interferometry is a powerful technique that allows for high angular resolution using telescopes of modest, and therefore affordable, size. Resolution can also be matched to the scientific problem being addressed by moving the individual telescopes that make up the interferometer. At centimeter wavelengths the Very Large Array (VLA) achieves a resolution as fine as 50 milliarcseconds in its largest configuration, and the Very Long Baseline Array can achieve 0.1 milliarcsecond resolution and similar astrometric precision. Making such measurements requires careful calibration, stable telescopes, and fairly sophisticated data processing.

The Eleventh Summer Synthesis Imaging Workshop will take place at New Mexico Tech and at the Array Operations Center of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), in Socorro NM, USA, in June 2008. The 8 day program includes hands-on data reduction tutorials and telescope tours at National Radio Astronomy Observatory facilities. In addition to lectures on radio interferometry (at a level appropriate for beginning graduate students), advanced lectures will cover a broad range of topics such as imaging with non-coplanar arrays, mosaicing, and low frequency interferometry. The program will also include presentations describing a selection of new synthesis instruments (most of which are located in New Mexico), including the Expanded Very Large Array, the Magdalena Ridge Observatory, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, and the Long Wavelength Array. Lectures will be provided by internationally recognized experts including staff and faculty from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, New Mexico Tech, University of New Mexico, and Harvard.

The previous Synthesis ImagingWorkshop, held on the UNM campus June 13-20, 2006, had 170 participants from over 15 countries. Attendees were primarily graduate students (66%), followed by undergraduates (11% half of which were NM summer students), engineers/programmers/operators (10%), postdocs (8%), and various faculty/astronomers (4%). More information, including all of the lectures from the 2006 school are posted on-line at http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/events/ synthesis/2006/.

New Mexico Institutes including NMT, LANL, UNM, NMSU, and NRAO are engaged in exploring the universe using interferometric techniques. The Synthesis Imaging Workshop in 2008 will provide essential training for students and others interested in synthesis imaging techniques. The Workshop also affords students an opportunity to meet their peers engaged in radio astronomy research worldwide, and to interact with the support staff for several world-class instruments. New Mexico, with its low population density, mountains, dark skies, and tradition of excellence in astronomy, is the natural location for the Synthesis Imaging Workshop.