Relative Astrometry of Compact Flaring Structures in Sgr A* with Polarimetric VLBI [HEAP]

http://arxiv.org/abs/1408.6241


We demonstrate that polarimetric interferometry can be used to extract precise spatial information about compact polarized flares of Sgr A*. We show that, for a faint dynamical component, a single interferometric baseline suffices to determine both its polarization and projected displacement from the quiescent intensity centroid. A second baseline enables two-dimensional reconstruction of the displacement, and additional baselines can self-calibrate using the flare, enhancing synthesis imaging of the quiescent emission. We apply this technique to simulated 1.3-mm wavelength observations of a “hot spot” embedded in a radiatively inefficient accretion disk around Sgr A*. Our results indicate that, even with current sensitivities, polarimetric interferometry with the Event Horizon Telescope can achieve ~5 microarcsecond relative astrometry of compact flaring structures near Sgr A* on timescales of minutes.

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M. Johnson, V. Fish, S. Doeleman, et. al.
Thu, 28 Aug 14
35/38

Comments: 9 Pages, 4 Figures, accepted for publication in ApJ