A simulated radio interferometer to build an intuitive understanding of the functioning of large radio interferometric arrays.
Clone this repository into a directory of your choice.
cd ~\Documents
git clone https://github.com/amanchokshi/imaginary-interferometer.git
cd imaginary-interferometer
source setup.sh
source setup.sh
creates a python virtual environment called venv
, activates it, and installs all the required packages. To decativate this virtual environment at any time, type deactivate
. It can be reactivated at any time with source venv/bin/activate
.
To get and idea of the options available:
python interferometer.py --help
The Imaginary Inteferometer can be run with its default settings with:
python interferometer.py
The code has a lot of comments which will help you understand the fundamentals of interferometry. You can add new images to the images
directory, but the must be 512x512
pixels in dimension. Images can be used with the --image
flag. New arrays can be defined in the array
directory, and used with the --array
flag.
The image below is one possible imaginary Sky Model. Taking the 2D fourier transform of this "sky", results in the image on the right. These represent the "Visibility Amplituded" or the "U-V" plane.
The dirty images produced by the imaginary interferometer, with and without rotation synthesis.
The PSF (Point Spread Function) of the array with and without rotation synthesis.
Array configuration, UV sampling instantaneous snapshot, and UV sampling with rotation synthesis.