First measurements and upgrade plans of the MAGIC intensity interferometer

Juan Cortina; V. A. Acciari; A. Biland; E. Colombo; C. da Costa; C. Delgado; C. Díaz; M. Fiori; D. Fink; T. Hassan; I. Jiménez-Martínez; E. Lyard; M. Mariotti; G. Martínez; R. Mirzoyan; G. Naletto; M. Polo; N. Produit; J. J. Rodríguez; T. Schweizer; R. Walter; C. W. Wunderlich; L. Zampieri

doi:10.1117/12.2629876

26 August 2022 First measurements and upgrade plans of the MAGIC intensity interferometer

Juan Cortina, V. A. Acciari, A. Biland, E. Colombo, C. da Costa, C. Delgado, C. Díaz, M. Fiori, D. Fink, T. Hassan, I. Jiménez-Martínez, E. Lyard, M. Mariotti, G. Martínez, R. Mirzoyan, G. Naletto, M. Polo, N. Produit, J. J. Rodríguez, T. Schweizer, R. Walter, C. W. Wunderlich, L. Zampieri

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 12183, Optical and Infrared Interferometry and Imaging VIII; 121830C (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2629876
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2022, Montréal, Québec, Canada

Abstract

The two MAGIC 17-m diameter Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes have been equipped to work also as an intensity interferometer with a deadtime-free, 4-channel, GPU-based, real-time correlator. Operating with baselines between ∼40 and 90 m the MAGIC interferometer is able to measure stellar diameters of 0.5 - 1 mas in the 400-440 nm wavelength range with a sensitivity roughly 10 times better than that achieved in the 1970’s by the Narrabri Stellar Intensity Interferometer. Besides, active mirror control allows to split the primary mirrors into sub-mirrors. This allows to make simultaneous calibration measurements of the zero-baseline correlation or to simultaneously collect six baselines below 17 m with almost arbitrary orientation, corresponding to angular scales of ∼1-50 mas. We plan to perform test observations adding the nearby Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) LST-1 23 m diameter telescope by next year. All three telescope pairs will be correlated simultaneously. Adding LST-1 is expected to increase the sensitivity by at least 1 mag and significantly improve the u-v plane coverage. If successful, the proposed correlator setup is scalable enough to be implemented to the full CTA arrays.

Conference Presentation

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Juan Cortina, V. A. Acciari, A. Biland, E. Colombo, C. da Costa, C. Delgado, C. Díaz, M. Fiori, D. Fink, T. Hassan, I. Jiménez-Martínez, E. Lyard, M. Mariotti, G. Martínez, R. Mirzoyan, G. Naletto, M. Polo, N. Produit, J. J. Rodríguez, T. Schweizer, R. Walter, C. W. Wunderlich, and L. Zampieri "First measurements and upgrade plans of the MAGIC intensity interferometer", Proc. SPIE 12183, Optical and Infrared Interferometry and Imaging VIII, 121830C (26 August 2022); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2629876

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