MeqSilhouette v2: Spectrally-resolved polarimetric synthetic data generation for the Event Horizon Telescope

Abstract

We present MeqSilhouette v2.0 (MeqSv2), a fully polarimetric, time-and frequency-resolved synthetic data generation software for simulating millimetre (mm) wavelength very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations with heterogeneous arrays. Synthetic data are a critical component in understanding real observations, testing calibration and imaging algorithms, and predicting performance metrics of existing or proposed sites. MeqSv2 applies physics-based instrumental and atmospheric signal corruptions constrained by empirically-derived site and station parameters to the data. The new version is capable of applying instrumental polarization effects and various other spectrally-resolved effects using the Radio Interferometry Measurement Equation (RIME) formalism and produces synthetic data compatible with calibration pipelines designed to process real data. We demonstrate the various corruption capabilities of MeqSv2 using different arrays, with a focus on the effect of complex bandpass gains on closure quantities for the EHT at 230 GHz. We validate the frequency-dependent polarization leakage implementation by performing polarization self-calibration of synthetic EHT data using PolSolve. We also note the potential applications for cm-wavelength VLBI array analysis and design and future directions.

accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (22)

• First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. I. The Shadow of the Supermassive Black Hole
• First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. VI. The Shadow and Mass of the Central Black Hole
• First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. IV. Imaging the Central Supermassive Black Hole
• First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. V. Physical Origin of the Asymmetric Ring
• First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. II. Array and Instrumentation
• WSClean: an implementation of a fast, generic wide-field imager for radio astronomy
• First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. III. Data Processing and Calibration
• Revisiting the radio interferometer measurement equation. I. A full-sky Jones formalism
• Revisiting the radio interferometer measurement equation. II. Calibration and direction-dependent effects
• Imaging the Supermassive Black Hole Shadow and Jet Base of M87 with the Event Horizon Telescope
• The ALMA Phasing System: A Beamforming Capability for Ultra-High-Resolution Science at (Sub)Millimeter Wavelengths
• Calibration of ALMA as a phased array: ALMA observations during the 2017 VLBI campaign
• Stochastic Optics: A Scattering Mitigation Framework for Radio Interferometric Imaging
• Polarization calibration techniques for new-generation VLBI
• A D-term Modeling Code (DMC) for simultaneous calibration and full-Stokes imaging of very long baseline interferometric data
• GPCAL: a generalized calibration pipeline for instrumental polarization in VLBI data
• Calibration errors in interferometric radio polarimetry
• MeqSilhouette : A mm-VLBI observation and signal corruption simulator
• On the solution of the polarisation gain terms for VLBI data collected with antennas having Nasmyth or E-W mounts
• A probabilistic approach to phase calibration: I. Effects of source structure on fringe-fitting
• Markov Chains for Horizons (MARCH). I. Identifying Biases in Fitting Theoretical Models to Event Horizon Telescope Observations
• Solving the polarization problem in ALMA-VLBI observations

Cited by in corpus (7)

• First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. VI: Testing the Black Hole Metric
• The Galactic Center as a laboratory for theories of gravity and dark matter
• CASA on the fringe -- Development of VLBI processing capabilities for CASA
• Polarimetric Geometric Modeling for mm-VLBI Observations of Black Holes
• Expanding Sgr A* dynamical imaging capabilities with an African extension to the Event Horizon Telescope
• Deep learning inference with the Event Horizon Telescope III. Zingularity results from the 2017 observations and predictions for future array expansions
• Deep learning inference with the Event Horizon Telescope I. Calibration improvements and a comprehensive synthetic data library