Interferometric Closure Phase Uncertainties in the Low Signal-to-Noise Ratio Regime

Abstract

Closure phases are critical in astronomical interferometry. However, their uncertainties are difficult to compute numerically. We provide a method to efficiently compute interferometric closure phase distributions in terms of an approximate distribution that is valid in the low signal-to-noise ratio regime. This is done by first showing that the true phase distribution is well approximated by the von Mises distribution, then performing a convolution of three von Mises distributions. The resulting approximation is superior than the normal distribution for all signal-to-noise ratios and, being fully analytic, allow for fast computations in statistical algorithms.

arXiv commentMatches accepted version

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Cited by in corpus (3)

• The Variability of the Black-Hole Image in M87 at the Dynamical Time Scale
• A Geometric View of Closure Phases in Interferometry
• How narrow is the M87* ring? I. The choice of closure likelihood function