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Black Hole

Lensing of space time around a black hole. At Oxford we study black holes observationally and theoretically on all size and time scales - it is some of our core work.

Credit: ALAIN RIAZUELO, IAP/UPMC/CNRS. CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE IMAGES.

Prof Michael Jones

Professor of Experimental Cosmology

Sub department

  • Astrophysics

Research groups

  • Astronomical instrumentation
  • Cosmology
  • Experimental radio cosmology
  • C-BASS
  • The Square Kilometre Array (SKA)
Mike.Jones@physics.ox.ac.uk
Telephone: 01865 (2)73441
Denys Wilkinson Building, room 758
  • About
  • Publications

On beam characterization of ground-based CMB radio telescopes using UAV-mounted sources: application to the QUIJOTE TFGI and plans for LSPE-Strip

Journal of Instrumentation IOP Publishing 20:06 (2025) P06057

Authors:

Fabio Paonessa, Lorenzo Ciorba, Giuseppe Addamo, Paz Alonso-Arias, Barbara Caccianiga, Marco Bersanelli, Francesco Cuttaia, Cristian Franceschet, Ricardo Tanausú Génova Santos, Massimo Gervasi, Roger Hoyland, Mike Jones, Carlos Hugo López-Caraballo, Mauro Lumia, Michele Maris, Aniello Mennella, Gianluca Morgante, Oscar Antonio Peverini, Sabrina Realini, José Alberto Rubiño-Martín, Stefano Sartor, Angela Taylor, Fabrizio Villa, Mario Zannoni

Abstract:

The Large Scale Polarization Explorer (LSPE) project, funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), includes the development of LSPE-Strip, a ground-based radio telescope for observing Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies. LSPE-Strip, nearing its construction phase, will operate from the Teide Observatory in Tenerife, employing 49 coherent polarimeters at 43 GHz to deliver critical data on CMB anisotropies and 6 channels at 95 GHz as atmospheric monitor. On-site characterization of such advanced instruments is crucial to detect possible systematic effects, such as gain fluctuations, beam distortions, and pointing errors, that can compromise performance by introducing spurious polarizations or radiation collection from unintended directions. To address these challenges, a drone-mounted Q-band test source for on-site characterization of LSPE-Strip's polarimeter array was developed. Modern Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) offer a flexible approach for antenna pattern measurements, yet their use in high-frequency radio astronomy is not consolidated practice. In October 2022, a UAV-based measurement campaign was conducted with the TFGI instrument on the second QUIJOTE telescope in Tenerife, in collaboration with the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. This pioneering effort aimed to validate UAV-based beam characterization methods and assess QUIJOTE's performance under operational conditions. Preliminary results demonstrated high measurement accuracy, leveraging QUIJOTE's dual-receiver configuration for beam validation. These findings provide valuable insights for optimizing UAV systems in preparation for LSPE-Strip's future characterization.
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The C-Band All-Sky Survey (C-BASS): new constraints on the integrated radio spectrum of M 31

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Oxford University Press (OUP) 523:3 (2023) 3471-3486

Authors:

Stuart E Harper, Adam Barr, C Dickinson, MW Peel, Roke Cepeda-Arroita, CJ Copley, RDP Grumitt, J Patrick Leahy, JL Jonas, Michael E Jones, J Leech, TJ Pearson, ACS Readhead, Angela C Taylor
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The C-Band All-Sky Survey (C-BASS): template fitting of diffuse galactic microwave emission in the northern sky

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Oxford University Press (OUP) 513:4 (2022) 5900-5919

Authors:

SE Harper, C Dickinson, A Barr, R Cepeda-Arroita, RDP Grumitt, HM Heilgendorff, L Jew, JL Jonas, ME Jones, JP Leahy, J Leech, TJ Pearson, MW Peel, ACS Readhead, AC Taylor
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Characterizing the performance of high-speed data converters for RFSoC-based radio astronomy receivers

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Oxford University Press 501:4 (2020) 5096-5104

Authors:

Chao Liu, Michael Jones, Angela Taylor

Abstract:

RF system-on-chip (RFSoC) devices provide the potential for implementing a complete radio astronomy receiver on a single board, but performance of the integrated analogue-to-digital converters (ADCs) is critical. We have evaluated the performance of the data converters in the Xilinx ZU28DR RFSoC, which are 12-bit, 8-fold interleaved converters with a maximum sample speed of 4.096 Giga-sample per second (GSPS). We measured the spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR), signal-to-noise and distortion (SINAD), effective number of bits (ENOB), intermodulation distortion (IMD), and cross-talk between adjacent channels over the bandwidth of 2.048 GHz. We both captured data for off-line analysis with floating-point arithmetic, and implemented a real-time integer arithmetic spectrometer on the RFSoC. The performance of the ADCs is sufficient for radio astronomy applications and close to the vendor specifications in most of the scenarios. We have carried out spectral integrations of up to 100 s and stability tests over tens of hours and find thermal noise-limited performance over these time-scales.
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Resolved observations at 31 GHz of spinning dust emissivity variations in rho Oph

MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY 495:3 (2020) 3482-3493

Authors:

Carla Arce-Tord, Matias Vidal, Simon Casassus, Miguel Carcamo, Clive Dickinson, Brandon S Hensley, Ricardo Genova-Santos, J Richard Bond, Michael E Jones, Anthony CS Readhead, Angela C Taylor, J Anton Zensus

Abstract:

© 2020 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. The ρ Oph molecular cloud is one of the best examples of spinning dust emission, first detected by the cosmic background imager (CBI). Here, we present 4.5 arcmin observations with CBI 2 that confirm 31 GHz emission from ρ Oph W, the PDR exposed to B-Type star HD 147889, and highlight the absence of signal from S1, the brightest IR nebula in the complex. In order to quantify an association with dust-related emission mechanisms, we calculated correlations at different angular resolutions between the 31 GHz map and proxies for the column density of IR emitters, dust radiance, and optical depth templates. We found that the 31 GHz emission correlates best with the PAH column density tracers, while the correlation with the dust radiance improves when considering emission that is more extended (from the shorter baselines), suggesting that the angular resolution of the observations affects the correlation results. A proxy for the spinning dust emissivity reveals large variations within the complex, with a dynamic range of 25 at 3σ and a variation by a factor of at least 23, at 3σ, between the peak in ρ Oph W and the location of S1, which means that environmental factors are responsible for boosting spinning dust emissivities locally.
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