Related papers: Hot stars and interferometry
Current and future large astronomical surveys will yield multiparameter databases on millions or even billions of objects. The scientific exploitation of these will require powerful, robust, and automated classification tools tailored to…
I present an overview of important results obtained using high-resolution very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations of X-ray binary systems. These results derive from both astrometric observations and resolved imaging of…
We present a review of the interplay between the evolution of circumstellar disks and the formation of planets, both from the perspective of theoretical models and dedicated observations. Based on this, we identify and discuss fundamental…
Astronomical polarimetry is a powerful technique that can provide physical information sometimes difficult or impossible to obtain by any other type of observation. Almost every class of binary star can benefit from polarimetric…
The combination of high spatial and spectral resolution in optical astronomy enables new observational approaches to many open problems in stellar and circumstellar astrophysics. However, constructing a high-resolution spectrograph for an…
Recent advances in photonics have revived the interest in intensity interferometry for astronomical applications. The success of amplitude interferometry in the early 1970s, which is now mature and producing spectacular astrophysical…
A novel interferometric technique that uses the spectrum of the current fluctuations of a quadratic detector, a type of detector commonly used in Astronomy, has recently been introduced. It has major advantages with respect to classical…
The conventional approach to high-precision narrow-angle astrometry using a long baseline interferometer is to directly measure the fringe packet separation of a target and a nearby reference star. This is done by means of a technique known…
Direct determination of fundamental stellar parameters has many profound and wide-ranging impacts throughout astrophysics. These determinations are rooted in high angular resolution observations. In particular, as long-baseline optical…
Our objective is to prove that integrated optics (IO) is not only a good concept for astronomical interferometry but also a working technique with high performance. We used the commissioning data obtained with the dedicated K-band…
Current optical interferometers are affected by unknown turbulent phases on each telescope. In the field of radio-interferometry, the self-calibration technique is a powerful tool to process interferometric data with missing phase…
We analyze an intensity interferometry measurement carried out with two point-like detectors facing a distant source (e.g., a star) that may be partially occluded by an absorptive object (e.g., a planet). Such a measurement, based on the…
Classical optical interferometery requires maintaining live, phase-stable links between telescope stations. This requirement greatly adds to the cost of extending to long baseline separations, and limits on baselines will in turn limit the…
With the construction of the VLTI (Very Large Telescope Interferometer of the European Observatory ESO for the southern hemisphere) it is now possible to make observations with resolutions of the order of milli-arc-seconds, especially in IR…
In this work we present an observational technique and a detailed analysis of the stellar interferograms produced by three bright stars: Betelgeuse, Rigel and Sirius. It is shown that the atmospheric turbulence is responsible for the…
The sensitivity and astrometry upgrade ASTRA of the Keck Interferometer is introduced. After a brief overview of the underlying interferometric principles, the technology and concepts of the upgrade are presented. The interferometric…
The lunar surface is a compelling location for large, distributed optical facilities, with significant advantages over orbital facilities for high spatial resolution astrophysics. The serious development of mission concepts is timely…
This thesis reports on the application of new wide-field Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) imaging techniques using real data for the first time. These techniques are used to target three specific science areas: (i) a…
The development of high-contrast capabilities has long been recognized as one of the top priorities for the VLTI. As of today, the VLTI routinely achieves contrasts of a few 10$^{-3}$ in the near-infrared with PIONIER (H band) and GRAVITY…
The Narrabri intensity interferometer was successfully used until 1974 to observe 32 stars, all brighter than B=+2.5, among which some were found to have an angular diameter as small as 0.41+/-0.03 milli-arc-seconds (mas). The technique was…