Related papers: Cosmology with the Very Large Telescope Interferom…
Precision astrometry at microarcsecond accuracy has application to a wide range of astrophysical problems. This paper is a study of the science questions that can be addressed using an instrument that delivers parallaxes at about 4…
Accurate weak-lensing analysis requires not only accurate measurement of galaxy shapes but also precise and unbiased measurement of galaxy redshifts. The photometric redshift technique appears as the only possibility to determine the…
Polarimetry remains a largely unexploited technique in observational X-ray astronomy which could provide insight in the study of the strong gravity and magnetic fields at the core of the Constellation-X observational program. Adding a…
Radio astronomy observations at frequencies below 10~MHz could provide valuable science, such as measuring the cosmic dark age signal in the redshifted 21~cm hydrogen absorption line, detecting exoplanetary auroral emissions which lead to…
The low infrared background and high atmospheric transparency are the principal advantages of Antarctic Plateau sites for astronomy. However, the poor seeing (between one and three arcseconds) negates much of the sensitivity improvements…
The Caltech-Jodrell Bank very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) Surveys give detailed 5 GHz VLBI images of several hundred milliarcsecond (mas) radio sources, and the full width at half-maximum angular sizes of the corresponding compact…
Strong gravitational lensing at the galaxy scale is a valuable tool for various applications in astrophysics and cosmology. The primary uses of galaxy-scale lensing are to study elliptical galaxies' mass structure and evolution, constrain…
There is growing interest in using 3-dimensional neutral hydrogen mapping with the redshifted 21 cm line as a cosmological probe, as it has been argued to have a greater long-term potential than the cosmic microwave background. However, its…
The measurement of magnitudes with different filters in photometric surveys gives access to cosmological distances and parameters. However, for current and future large surveys like the ZTF, DES, HSC or LSST, the photometric calibration…
Stellar mass plays a central role in our understanding of star formation and aging. Stellar astronomy is largely based on two maps, both dependent on mass, either indirectly or directly: the Hertzprung-Russell Diagram (HRD) and the…
Only astronomical observations can effectively probe in space-time the variabil ity of the physical dimensionless constants such as the fine structure constant and proton-to-electron mass ratio, \mu, which are related to fund amental forces…
The late evolutionary stages of stellar evolution are a key ingredient for our understanding in many fields of astrophysics, including stellar evolution and the enrichment of the interstellar medium (ISM) via stellar yields. Already the…
The space astrometry mission GAIA will construct a dense optical QSO-based celestial reference frame. For consistency between the optical and radio positions, it will be important to align the GAIA frame and the International Celestial…
The techniques of laser cooling combined with atom interferometry make possible the realization of very sensitive and accurate inertial sensors like gyroscopes or accelerometers. Besides earth-based developments, the use of these techniques…
Extrasolar planet searches targeting very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs are hampered by intrinsic or instrumental limitations. Time series of astrometric measurements with precisions better than one milli-arcsecond can yield new evidence…
Summarizes current status of radio interferometry at radio frequencies between Earth-based receivers, for astrometric and geodetic applications. Emphasizes theoretical models of VLBI observables that are required to extract results at the…
Galaxy redshift surveys are a major tool to address the most challenging cosmological problems facing cosmology, like the nature of dark energy and properties dark matter. The same observations are useful for a much larger variety of…
In this paper, we review the various ways in which an infrared stellar interferometer can be used to perform direct detection of extrasolar planetary systems. We first review the techniques based on classical stellar interferometry, where…
For many decades the determination of accurate fundamental parameters for stars (masses, radii, temperatures, luminosities, etc.) has mostly been the domain of eclipsing binary systems. That has begun to change as long-baseline…
Precise cosmological measurements are essential for understanding the evolution of the universe and the nature of dark energy. The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), the most sensitive single-dish radio telescope, has…