Aims: The aim of this work is to study the structure of the protoplanetary disk surrounding the Herbig Ae star HD 163296. Methods: We used high-resolution and high-sensitivity ALMA observations... Show moreAims: The aim of this work is to study the structure of the protoplanetary disk surrounding the Herbig Ae star HD 163296. Methods: We used high-resolution and high-sensitivity ALMA observations of the CO(3-2) emission line and the continuum at 850 {$μ$}m, as well as the three-dimensional Monte Carlo radiative transfer code, MCFOST, to model the data presented in this work. Results: The CO(3-2) emission unveils for the first time at submillimeter frequencies the vertical structure details of a gaseous disk in Keplerian rotation, showing the back and front sides of a flared disk. Continuum emission at 850 {$μ$}m reveals a compact dust disk with a 240 AU outer radius and a surface brightness profile that shows a very steep decline at radius larger than 125 AU. The gaseous disk is more than two times larger than the dust disk, with a similar critical radius but with a shallower radial profile. Radiative transfer models of the continuum data confirm the need for a sharp outer edge to the dust disk. The models for the CO(3-2) channel map require the disk to be slightly more geometrically thick than previous models suggested, and that the temperature at which CO gas becomes depleted (i.e., frozen out) from the outer regions of the disk midplane is T {lt} 20 K, in agreement with previous studies. Show less
Context. Dust is commonly present in weakly radio emitting star-forming galaxies and this dust may obscure the signatures of accreting black holes in these objects. Aims: We aim to uncover weak... Show moreContext. Dust is commonly present in weakly radio emitting star-forming galaxies and this dust may obscure the signatures of accreting black holes in these objects. Aims: We aim to uncover weak active galactic nuclei, AGN, in the faint radio source population by means of deep high-resolution radio observations. Methods: VLBI observations with a world-wide array at unparallelled sensitivity are carried out to assess the nature of the faint radio source population in the Hubble deep field north and its flanking fields. Results: Images of twelve compact, AGN-driven radio sources are presented. These represent roughly one quarter of the detectable faint radio source sample. Most, but not all of these low power AGN have X-ray detections. Conclusions: The majority of the faint radio source population must be star-forming galaxies. Faint AGN occur in a variety of (distant) host galaxies, and these are often accompanied by a dust-obscured starburst. Deep, high-resolution VLBI is a unique, powerful technique to assess the occurrence of faint AGN. Show less
Garrett, M.A.; Röttgering, H.J.A.; Jong, A.W. de; Iacobelli, M.; et al 2013
The low frequency array (LOFAR), is the first radio telescope designed with the capability to measure radio emission from cosmic-ray induced air showers in parallel with interferometric... Show moreThe low frequency array (LOFAR), is the first radio telescope designed with the capability to measure radio emission from cosmic-ray induced air showers in parallel with interferometric observations. In the first ~{}2 years of observing, 405 cosmic-ray events in the energy range of 10$^{16}$-10$^{18}$ eV have been detected in the band from 30-80 MHz. Each of these air showers is registered with up to ~{}1000 independent antennas resulting in measurements of the radio emission with unprecedented detail. This article describes the dataset, as well as the analysis pipeline, and serves as a reference for future papers based on these data. All steps necessary to achieve a full reconstruction of the electric field at every antenna position are explained, including removal of radio frequency interference, correcting for the antenna response and identification of the pulsed signal. Show less
Janssen, R.M.J.; Röttgering, H.J.A.; Best, P.N.; Brinchmann, J. 2012
Context. Current instrument developments at the largest telescopes worldwide involve the installation of multi-conjugated adaptive optics (MCAO) modules. The large field of view and more uniform... Show moreContext. Current instrument developments at the largest telescopes worldwide involve the installation of multi-conjugated adaptive optics (MCAO) modules. The large field of view and more uniform correction provided by these systems is not only highly beneficial for photometric studies but also for astrometric analysis of, e.g., large dense clusters and exoplanet detection and characterization. The Multi-conjugated Adaptive optics Demonstrator (MAD) is the first such instrument and was temporarily installed and tested at the ESO/VLT in 2007. Aims: We analyzed the first available MCAO imaging data in the layer-oriented mode obtained with the MAD instrument in terms of astrometric precision and stability. Methods: We analyzed two globular cluster data sets in terms of achievable astrometric precision. Data were obtained in the layer-oriented correction mode, one in full MCAO correction mode with two layers corrected (NGC 6388) and the other applying ground-layer correction only (47 Tuc). We calculated Strehl maps for each frame in both data sets. Distortion corrections were performed and the astrometric precision was analyzed by calculating mean stellar positions over all frames and by investigating the positional residuals present in each frame after transformation to a master-coordinate frame. Results: The mean positional precision for stars of brightnesses K = 14-18 mag is ≈ 1.2 mas in the full MCAO correction mode data of the cluster NGC 6388. The precision measured in the GLAO data (47 Tuc) reaches ≈1.0 mas for stars corresponding to 2MASS K magnitudes between 9 and 12. The observations were such that stars in these magnitude ranges correspond to the same detector flux range. The jitter movement used to scan a larger field of view introduced additional distortions in the frames, leading to a degradation of the achievable precision. Show less
Zhang, Y.; Moerkens, M.; Ramaiahgari, S.; Bont, H.J.G.M. de; Price, L.S.; Meerman, J.H.N.; Water, B. van de 2011
We present the first long baseline mid-infrared interferometric observations of the circumstellar disks surrounding Herbig Ae/Be stars. The observations were obtained using the mid-infrared... Show moreWe present the first long baseline mid-infrared interferometric observations of the circumstellar disks surrounding Herbig Ae/Be stars. The observations were obtained using the mid-infrared interferometric instrument MIDI at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Very Large Telescope Interferometer VLTI on Cerro Paranal. The 102 m baseline given by the telescopes UT1 and UT3 was employed, which provides a maximum full spatial resolution of 20 milli-arcsec (mas) at a wavelength of 10 μm. The interferometric signal was spectrally dispersed at a resolution of 30, giving spectrally resolved visibility information from 8 μm to 13.5 μm. We observed seven nearby Herbig Ae/Be stars and resolved all objects. The warm dust disk of HD 100546 could even be resolved in single-telescope imaging. Characteristic dimensions of the emitting regions at 10 μm are found to be from 1 AU to 10 AU. The 10 μm sizes of our sample stars correlate with the slope of the 10–25 μm infrared spectrum in the sense that the reddest objects are the largest ones. Such a correlation would be consistent with a different geometry in terms of flaring or flat (self-shadowed) disks for sources with strong or moderate mid-infrared excess, respectively. We compare the observed spectrally resolved visibilities with predictions based on existing models of passive centrally irradiated hydrostatic disks made to fit the SEDs of the observed stars. We find broad qualitative agreement of the spectral shape of visibilities corresponding to these models with our observations. Quantitatively, there are discrepancies that show the need for a next step in modelling of circumstellar disks, satisfying both the spatial constraints such as are now available from the MIDI observations and the flux constraints from the SEDs in a consistent way. Show less
Leinert, C.; Boekel, R. van; Waters, L.B.F.M.; Chesneau, O.; Malbet, F.; Köhler, R.D.; ... ; Weigelt, G. 2004
We present the first long baseline mid-infrared interferometric observations of the circumstellar disks surrounding Herbig Ae/Be stars. The observations were obtained using the mid-infrared... Show moreWe present the first long baseline mid-infrared interferometric observations of the circumstellar disks surrounding Herbig Ae/Be stars. The observations were obtained using the mid-infrared interferometric instrument MIDI at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Very Large Telescope Interferometer VLTI on Cerro Paranal. The 102 m baseline given by the telescopes UT1 and UT3 was employed, which provides a maximum full spatial resolution of 20 milli-arcsec (mas) at a wavelength of 10 μm. The interferometric signal was spectrally dispersed at a resolution of 30, giving spectrally resolved visibility information from 8 μm to 13.5 μm. We observed seven nearby Herbig Ae/Be stars and resolved all objects. The warm dust disk of HD 100546 could even be resolved in single-telescope imaging. Characteristic dimensions of the emitting regions at 10 μm are found to be from 1 AU to 10 AU. The 10 μm sizes of our sample stars correlate with the slope of the 10–25 μm infrared spectrum in the sense that the reddest objects are the largest ones. Such a correlation would be consistent with a different geometry in terms of flaring or flat (self-shadowed) disks for sources with strong or moderate mid-infrared excess, respectively. We compare the observed spectrally resolved visibilities with predictions based on existing models of passive centrally irradiated hydrostatic disks made to fit the SEDs of the observed stars. We find broad qualitative agreement of the spectral shape of visibilities corresponding to these models with our observations. Quantitatively, there are discrepancies that show the need for a next step in modelling of circumstellar disks, satisfying both the spatial constraints such as are now available from the MIDI observations and the flux constraints from the SEDs in a consistent way. Show less
We have surveyed an optical/IR selected sample of nearby E/S0 galaxies with and without nuclear dust structures with the VLA at 3.6 cm to a sensitivity of 100 μ Jy. We can construct a Radio... Show moreWe have surveyed an optical/IR selected sample of nearby E/S0 galaxies with and without nuclear dust structures with the VLA at 3.6 cm to a sensitivity of 100 μ Jy. We can construct a Radio Luminosity Function (RLF) of these galaxies to ~1019 W Hz-1 and find that ~50% of these galaxies have AGNs at this level. The space density of these AGNs equals that of starburst galaxies at this luminosity. Several dust-free galaxies have low luminosity radio cores, and their RLF is not significantly less than that of the dusty galaxies. Show less
