Publications
of the
MPIfR
Optical & Infrared
Interferometry Group
T. Blöcker, K.-H. Hofmann, F. Przygodda and G. Weigelt:
Computer simulations of interferometric imaging with the VLT
interferometer and the AMBER instrument
in
Interferometry in Optical Astronomy,
SPIE Conf. Vol. 4006, p. 174-183 (2000)
Abstract.
We present computer simulations of interferometric imaging with the VLT
interferometer and the AMBER instrument. These simulations include both the
astrophysical modelling of a stellar object by radiative transfer calculations
and the simulation of light propagation from the object to the detector
(through atmosphere, telescopes, and the AMBER instrument), simulation of
photon noise and detector read-out noise, and finally data processing of the
interferograms. The results show the dependence of the visibility error bars on
the following observational parameters: different seeing during the observation
of object and reference star (Fried parameters r_0,object=2.4m, r_0,ref.=2.5m,
different residual tip-tilt error (delta_tt,object=2% of the Airy disk
diameter, delta_tt,ref.=0.1%), and object brightness (K_object=3.5 mag and 11
mag, K_ref.=3.5 mag). Exemplarily, we focus on stars in late stages of stellar
evolution and study one of its key objects, the dusty supergiant IRC+10420 that
is rapidly evolving on human timescales. We show computer simulations of VLTI
interferometry of IRC+10420 with two ATs (wide-field mode, i.e. without fiber
optics spatial filters) and discuss whether the visibility accuracy is
sufficient to distinguish between different theoretical model predictions.
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