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Astro Colloquium

Astro Colloquium

538 Davey Lab

2023-03-15

Data is one of the fundamental quantities on which progress in astronomy is predicated. Yet there is often a disproportionate emphasis on immediate science results over the development of robust methods to process and even model the underlying data. In this talk I will present a case study demonstrating the benefits of investing in modern software development for data modeling – the challenge of imaging in radio interferometry. I will first overview the standard approach to imaging, wherein telescopes such as ALMA are purpose-built to observe at generational resolution and sensitivity, while the software that images the data uses an empirical, decades-old modeling framework that does not leverage the highest resolution and sensitivity information. Then I will discuss two modern, open-source software packages designed to perform imaging more accurately, quickly and autonomously, within a simple and well-documented software architecture. Comparing their performance on ALMA observations of protoplanetary disks to the standard imaging approach, I will show how these algorithms employ statistical techniques to simultaneously achieve higher resolution and sensitivity in their reconstructed images. Finally I will preview the new science these tools are driving in the protoplanetary disk field, including the Bayesian inference made possible by self-consistently imaging hundreds of datasets at high fidelity.

TimeSpeakerTitle
15:45Jeff JenningsThe Scientific Utility of Software Development: a Case Study in Radio Interferometry
About our wordmark
Monica The IGC wordmark was created by Monica Rincon Ramirez, while she was a graduate student at the Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos (IGC). Monica enjoys drawing new connections between fundamental theory and observations. Her graduate work includes specialized topics in general relativity, loop quantum gravity, and quantum fields in cosmological backgrounds. In particular, her thesis work focused on finding effective quantum corrections to gravitational phenomena from spinfoams, and applications to cosmology. She received her PhD in 2024.

The wordmark symbolizes the scope and variety of research at the IGC. The base of the image represents quantum gravity, evoking the quantum geometrical picture from spinfoams and loop quantum gravity. These are among the approaches to fundamental questions studied at the Center for Fundamental Theory. The middle of the image represents the Center for Theoretical and Observational Cosmology by galaxies embedded in a smooth surface, characteristic of spacetime in general relativity and the much larger physical scales studied in cosmology. Finally, at the top, the surface curves to an extreme, representing a supermassive black hole accompanied by an energetic jet. These elements depict an active galactic nucleus, inspired by Centaurus A. Just to the right, a pair of black holes approaches merger. This top portion of the wordmark represents the Center for Multimessenger Astrophysics, which specializes in the study of high-energy phenomena in the universe.