PRECL: A new method for interferometry imaging from closure phase

TL;DR

PRECL is a novel phase retrieval technique that estimates all visibility phases from closure phases in VLBI, enabling high-quality imaging without relying on traditional calibration methods.

Contribution

The paper introduces PRECL, a new method for interferometry imaging that estimates visibility phases solely from closure phases, improving VLBI imaging.

Findings

Numerical tests show promising results for PRECL.

PRECL enables imaging without dirty images or self-calibration.

Method improves phase retrieval accuracy in VLBI observations.

Abstract

For short-wavelength VLBI observations, it is difficult to measure the phase of the visibility function accurately. The closure phases are reliable measurements under this situation, though it is not sufficient to retrieve all of the phase information. We propose a new method, Phase Retrieval from Closure Phase (PRECL). PRECL estimates all the visibility phases only from the closure phases. Combining PRECL with a sparse modeling method we have already proposed, imaging process of VLBI does not rely on dirty image nor self-calibration. The proposed method is tested numerically and the results are promising.