Very Long Baseline Interferometry with the SKA

Paragi, Z.;Godfrey, L.;Reynolds, C.;Rioja, M. J.;Deller, A.;Zhang, B.;Gurvits, L.;Bietenholz, M.;Szomoru, A.;Bignall, H. E.;Boven, P.;Charlot, P.;Dodson, R.;Frey, S.;Garrett, M. A.;Imai, H.;Lobanov, A.;Reid, M. J.;Ros, E.;van Langevelde, H. J.;Zensus, A. J.;Zheng, X. W.;Alberdi, A.;Agudo, I.;An, T.;Argo, M.;Beswick, R.;Biggs, A.;Brunthaler, A.;Campbell, B.;Cimo, G.;Colomer, F.;Corbel, S.;Conway, J. E.;Cseh, D.;Deane, R.;Falcke, H. D. E.;Gawronski, M.;Gaylard, M.;Giovannini, G.;Giroletti, M.;Goddi, C.;Goedhart, S.;Gómez, J. L.;Gunn, A.;Kharb, P.;Kloeckner, H. R.;Koerding, E.;Kovalev, Y.;Kunert-Bajraszewska, M.;Lindqvist, M.;Lister, M.;Mantovani, F.;Marti-Vidal, I.;Mezcua, M.;McKean, J.;Middelberg, E.;Miller-Jones, J. C. A.;Moldon, J.;Muxlow, T.;O'Brien, T.;Perez-Torres, M.;Pogrebenko, S. V.;Quick, J.;Rushton, A.;Schilizzi, R.;Smirnov, O.;Sohn, B. W.;Surcis, G.;Taylor, G. B.;Tingay, S.;Tudose, V. M.;van der Horst, A.;van Leeuwen, J.;Venturi, T.;Vermeulen, R.;Vlemmings, W. H. T.;de Witt, A.;Wucknitz, O.;Yang, J.;Gabänyi, K.;Jung, T.

2015-01-01

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Abstract

Adding VLBI capability to the SKA arrays will greatly broaden the science of the SKA, and is feasible within the current specifications. SKA-VLBI can be initially implemented by providing phased-array outputs for SKA1-MID and SKA1-SUR and using these extremely sensitive stations with other radio telescopes, and in SKA2 by realising a distributed configuration providing baselines up to thousands of km, merging it with existing VLBI networks. The motivation for and the possible realization of SKA-VLBI is described in this paper....