PhD ceremony Ms. P. Noorishad: Optimization for high fidelity imaging with aperture array telescopes

PhD ceremony: Ms. P. Noorishad, 12.45 uur, Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5, Groningen

Dissertation: Optimization for high fidelity imaging with aperture array telescopes

Promotor(s): prof. J.M. van der Hulst, prof. A. van Ardenne

Faculty: Mathematics and Natural Sciences

ASTRON, the Dutch national facilities for research in radio astronomy has designed and constructed LOFAR with an unconventional design concept, so-called phased-arrays. Phased-array technology makes the construction of a big radio telescope very cost effective and time effective. It has so many scientific capabilities as well.

LOFAR has a simple mechanical design (simple dipole antennas). But the main challenge is its data analysis. It unconventional design demands new methods for analyzing and understating its data and truing that data into the scientific results. Several research projects have been conducted by ASTRON in close collaboration with some Dutch universities including university of Groningen (RUG), university of Leiden and Delft university of technologies to work on LOFAR data analysis. As a result, we have developed and applied the innovative array signal processing algorithms to obtain excellent scientific results from LOFAR observations. This thesis has contributed in such achievements.

Many studies similar to this thesis are required for algorithms that guarantee the success of LOFAR (and similar instrument) as an scientific instrument. This became and will continue to become possible as a result of close collaboration between many universities (including non-Dutch universities all over the world), the R&D and astronomy groups at ASTRON.

The success of LOFAR by far and similar projects have led to phased-array design concept being the two-thirds of the SKA, the world largest and most sensitive radio telescope.