Image Formation by Self-Calibration in Radio Astronomy

Abstract

This review describes these self-calibration methods and their application to both conventional and very long baseline arrays and includes examples of the high-quality images that they produce. After first defining closure phase and closure amplitude in Section 2, we review conventional aperture synthesis methods in Sections 3 and 4. The new iterative self-calibration algorithms are the subject of Section 5. In Section 6 we consider the capabilities and limitations of these algorithms. Finally, in Section 7 we mention some applications in optical and infrared astronomy and in new radio instruments presently planned or under construction.