arXiv subjects

John Conway

Publications and source records attributed to John Conway.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

BlasBench: An Open Benchmark for Irish Speech Recognition

Existing multilingual benchmarks include Irish among dozens of languages but apply no Irish-aware text normalisation, leaving reliable and reproducible ASR comparison impossible. We introduce BlasBench, an open evaluation harness that provides a standalone Irish-aware normaliser preserving fadas, lenition, and eclipsis; a reproducible scoring harness and per-utterance predictions released for all evaluated runs. We pilot this by benchmarking 12 systems across four architecture families on Common Voice ga-IE and FLEURS ga-IE. All Whisper variants exceed 100% WER through insertion-driven hallucination. Microsoft Azure reaches 22.2% WER on Common Voice and 57.5% on FLEURS; the best open model, Omnilingual ASR 7B, reaches 30.65% and 39.09% respectively. Models fine-tuned on Common Voice degrade 33-43 points moving to FLEURS, while massively multilingual models degrade only 7-10 - a generalisation gap that single-dataset evaluation misses.

cs.CL↗

arXiv2025

GMIMS-DRAGONS: A Faraday Depth Survey of the Northern Sky Covering 350-1030 MHz

Polarized synchrotron emission at meter to centimeter wavelengths provides an effective tracer of the Galactic magnetic field. Calculating Faraday depth, the most useful parameter for mapping the line-of-sight magnetic field, requires observations covering wide frequency bands with many channels. As part of the Global Magneto-Ionic Medium Survey (GMIMS), we have observed polarized emission spanning 350-1030 MHz over the northern sky, in the declination range ${-20^{\circ}}\leq{\delta}\leq{90^{\circ}}$. We used the 15 m telescope at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO), equipped to receive orthogonal circular polarizations, with the Onsala Space Observatory band 1 feed developed for the SKA Project. Angular resolution varies across the band from $1.3^{\circ}$ to $3.6^{\circ}$. A digital spectrometer provided 42 kHz frequency resolution. Data were taken with the telescope moving rapidly in azimuth and are absolutely calibrated in intensity. Approximately 25% of the data were lost due to radio-frequency interference. The resolution in Faraday depth is $\sim6$ rad m$^{-2}$, and features as wide as $\sim38$ rad m$^{-2}$ are represented. The median sensitivity of the Faraday depth cube is 11 mK. Approximately 55% of sight-lines in this survey show Faraday complexity. This dataset, called ``DRAO GMIMS of the Northern Sky'' (DRAGONS), is the first to probe Faraday depth of the northern sky in its frequency range and will support many scientific investigations. The data will be used to calibrate surveys with higher angular resolution, particularly Galactic foreground maps from the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment, and to provide information on large structures for aperture-synthesis telescopes, particularly the DRAO Synthesis Telescope. The data are available through the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2024

Compilation of Technical Papers on ALMA Receivers

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is the world's leading instrument for high-resolution imaging of the 0.3 to 10 mm wavelength sky. This interferometer exemplifies successful international collaboration even down to its individual components, including its telescope dishes and receivers produced in global partnerships. Over the past roughly ten years of ALMA operation, these receivers have been responsible for nearly ten thousand publications, as carefully monitored by the online ALMA Science Archive. However, the citations of the relevant receiver papers have not managed to grow together with their use in the astronomical community, which points out an information gap among the astronomical community. To overcome this gap, this memo provides a comprehensive list of receiver references, which was created in direct contact with the receiver groups.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2023

Sub-arcsecond resolution imaging of M 51 with the International LOFAR Telescope

We present an International LOFAR Telescope sub-arcsecond resolution image of the nearby galaxy M 51 with a beam size of 0.436" x 0.366" and rms of 46 $μ$Jy. We compare this image with an European VLBI Network study of M 51, and discuss the supernovae in this galaxy, which have not yet been probed at these low radio frequencies. We find a flux density of 0.97 mJy for SN 2011dh in the ILT image, which is about five times smaller than the flux density reported by the LOFAR Twometre Sky Survey at 6" resolution using the same dataset without the international stations. This difference makes evident the need for LOFAR international baselines to reliably obtain flux density measurements of compact objects in nearby galaxies. Our LOFAR flux density measurement of SN 2011dh directly translates into fitting the radio light curves for the supernova and constraining massloss rates of progenitor star. We do not detect two other supernovae in the same galaxy, SN 1994I and SN 2005cs, and our observations place limits on the evolution of both supernovae at radio wavelengths. We also discuss the radio emission from the centre of M 51, in which we detect the Active Galactic Nucleus and other parts of the nuclear emission in the galaxy, and a possible detection of Component N. We discuss a few other sources, including the detection of a High mass X-ray Binary not detected by LoTSS, but with a flux density in the ILT image that matches well with higher frequency catalogues.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

A ring-like accretion structure in M87 connecting its black hole and jet

The nearby radio galaxy M87 is a prime target for studying black hole accretion and jet formation^{1,2}. Event Horizon Telescope observations of M87 in 2017, at a wavelength of 1.3 mm, revealed a ring-like structure, which was interpreted as gravitationally lensed emission around a central black hole^3. Here we report images of M87 obtained in 2018, at a wavelength of 3.5 mm, showing that the compact radio core is spatially resolved. High-resolution imaging shows a ring-like structure of 8.4_{-1.1}^{+0.5} Schwarzschild radii in diameter, approximately 50% larger than that seen at 1.3 mm. The outer edge at 3.5 mm is also larger than that at 1.3 mm. This larger and thicker ring indicates a substantial contribution from the accretion flow with absorption effects in addition to the gravitationally lensed ring-like emission. The images show that the edge-brightened jet connects to the accretion flow of the black hole. Close to the black hole, the emission profile of the jet-launching region is wider than the expected profile of a black-hole-driven jet, suggesting the possible presence of a wind associated with the accretion flow.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2022

The science case and challenges of space-borne sub-millimeter interferometry

Ultra-high angular resolution in astronomy has always been an important vehicle for making fundamental discoveries. Recent results in direct imaging of the vicinity of the supermassive black hole in the nucleus of the radio galaxy M87 by the millimeter VLBI system Event Horizon Telescope and various pioneering results of the Space VLBI mission RadioAstron provided new momentum in high angular resolution astrophysics. In both mentioned cases, the angular resolution reached the values of about 10-20 microrcseconds. Further developments toward at least an order of magnitude "sharper" values are dictated by the needs of astrophysical studies and can only be achieved by placing millimeter and submillimeter wavelength interferometric systems in space. A concept of such the system, called Terahertz Exploration and Zooming-in for Astrophysics (THEZA), has been proposed in the framework of the ESA Call for White Papers for the Voayage 2050 long term plan in 2019. In the current paper we discuss several approaches for addressing technological challenges of the THEZA concept. In particular, we consider a novel configuration of a space-borne millimeter/sub-millimeter antenna which might resolve several bottlenecks in creating large precise mechanical structures. The paper also presents an overview of prospective space-qualified technologies of low-noise analogue front-end instrumentation for millimeter/sub-millimeter telescopes, data handling and processing. The paper briefly discusses approaches to the interferometric baseline state vector determination and synchronisation and heterodyning system. In combination with the original ESA Voyage 2050 White Paper, the current work sharpens the case for the next generation microarcsceond-level imaging instruments and provides starting points for further in-depth technology trade-off studies.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2021

Subarcsecond LOFAR imaging of Arp299 at 150 MHz. Tracing the nuclear and diffuse extended emission of a bright LIRG

We study for the first time the low-frequency ($\sim$150 MHz) radio brightness distribution of Arp~299 at subarcsecond resolution, tracing in both compact and extended emission regions the local spectral energy distribution (SED) in order to characterize the dominant emission and absorption processes. We analysed the spatially resolved emission of Arp 299 revealed by 150 MHz international baseline Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) and 1.4, 5.0, and 8.4 GHz Very Large Array (VLA) observations. We present the first subarcsecond (0.4"$\sim$100~pc) image of the whole Arp~299 system at 150~MHz. The high surface brightness sensitivity of our LOFAR observations ($\sim$100 $μ$Jy/beam) allowed us to detect all of the nuclear components detected at higher frequencies, as well as the extended steep-spectrum emission surrounding the nuclei. We obtained spatially resolved, two-point spectral index maps for the whole galaxy: the compact nuclei show relatively flat spectra, while the extended, diffuse component shows a steep spectrum. We fitted the radio SED of the nuclear regions using two different models: a continuous free-free medium model and a clumpy model. The continuous model can explain the SED of the nuclei assuming a population of relativistic electrons subjected to synchrotron, bremsstrahlung, and ionization losses. The clumpy model fits assuming relativistic electrons with negligible energy losses, and thermal fractions that are more typical of star-forming galaxies than those required for the continuous model. Our results confirm the usefulness of combining spatially resolved radio imaging at both MHz and GHz frequencies to characterize in detail the radio emission properties of LIRGs from the central 100 pc out to the kiloparsec galaxy-wide scales.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

TeraHertz Exploration and Zooming-in for Astrophysics (THEZA): ESA Voyage 2050 White Paper

This paper presents the ESA Voyage 2050 White Paper for a concept of TeraHertz Exploration and Zooming-in for Astrophysics (THEZA). It addresses the science case and some implementation issues of a space-borne radio interferometric system for ultra-sharp imaging of celestial radio sources at the level of angular resolution down to (sub-) microarcseconds. THEZA focuses at millimetre and sub-millimetre wavelengths (frequencies above $\sim$300~GHz), but allows for science operations at longer wavelengths too. The THEZA concept science rationale is focused on the physics of spacetime in the vicinity of supermassive black holes as the leading science driver. The main aim of the concept is to facilitate a major leap by providing researchers with orders of magnitude improvements in the resolution and dynamic range in direct imaging studies of the most exotic objects in the Universe, black holes. The concept will open up a sizeable range of hitherto unreachable parameters of observational astrophysics. It unifies two major lines of development of space-borne radio astronomy of the past decades: Space VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) and mm- and sub-mm astrophysical studies with "single dish" instruments. It also builds upon the recent success of the Earth-based Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) -- the first-ever direct image of a shadow of the super-massive black hole in the centre of the galaxy M87. As an amalgam of these three major areas of modern observational astrophysics, THEZA aims at facilitating a breakthrough in high-resolution high image quality studies in the millimetre and sub-millimetre domain of the electromagnetic spectrum.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2020

VLBI20-30: a scientific roadmap for the next decade -- The future of the European VLBI Network

This white paper describes the science case for Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) and provides suggestions towards upgrade paths for the European VLBI Network (EVN). The EVN is a distributed long-baseline radio interferometric array, that operates at the very forefront of astronomical research. Recent results, together with the new science possibilities outlined in this vision document, demonstrate the EVN's potential to generate new and exciting results that will transform our view of the cosmos. Together with e-MERLIN, the EVN provides a range of baseline lengths that permit unique studies of faint radio sources to be made over a wide range of spatial scales. The science cases are reviewed in six chapters that cover the following broad areas: cosmology, galaxy formation and evolution, innermost regions of active galactic nuclei, explosive phenomena and transients, stars and stellar masers in the Milky Way, celestial reference frames and space applications. The document concludes with identifying the synergies with other radio, as well as multi-band/multi-messenger instruments, and provide the recommendations for future improvements. The appendices briefly describe other radio VLBI arrays, the technological framework for EVN developments, and a selection of spectral lines of astrophysical interest below 100 GHz. The document includes a glossary for non-specialists, and a list of acronyms at the end.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2018

The case for gravitational millilensing in the multiply--imaged quasar B1152+199

Previous Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations of the quasar B1152+199 at 5GHz has revealed two images of a strongly lensed jet with seemingly discordant morphologies. Whereas the jet appears straight in one of the images, the other exhibits slight curvature on milliarcsecond scales. This is unexpected from the lensing solution and has been interpreted as possible evidence for secondary, small-scale lensing (millilensing) by a compact object with a mass of $~10^5$-$10^7\ M_\odot$ located close to the curved image. The probability for such a superposition is extremely low unless the millilens population has very high surface number density. Here, we revisit the case for millilensing in B1152+199 by combining new global-VLBI data at 8.4GHz with two datasets from the European VLBI Network (EVN) at 5GHz (archival) and at 22GHz (new dataset), and the previously published 5GHz Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) data. We find that the new data with a more circular synthesized beam, exhibits no apparent milliarcsecond-scale curvature in image B. Various observations of the object spanning $\sim$15 years apart enable us to improve the constraints on lens system (thanks also to the improved astrometry resulting from 22GHz observations) to the point that the only plausible explanation left for the apparent curvature is the artifact due to the shape of the synthesized beam.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2016

Detection of 183 GHz water megamaser emission towards NGC 4945

Aim: The aim of this work is to search Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 4945, a well-known 22 GHz water megamaser galaxy, for water (mega)maser emission at 183 GHz. Method: We used APEX SEPIA Band 5 to perform the observations. Results: We detected 183 GHz water maser emission towards NGC 4945 with a peak flux density of ~3 Jy near the galactic systemic velocity. The emission spans a velocity range of several hundred km/s. We estimate an isotropic luminosity of > 1000 Lsun, classifying the emission as a megamaser. A comparison of the 183 GHz spectrum with that observed at 22 GHz suggests that 183 GHz emission also arises from the active galactic nucleus (AGN) central engine. If the 183 GHz emission originates from the circumnuclear disk, then we estimate that a redshifted feature at 1084 km/s in the spectrum should arise from a distance of 0.022 pc from the supermassive black hole (1.6 x 10(5) Schwarzschild radii), i.e. closer than the water maser emission previously detected at 22 GHz. This is only the second time 183 GHz maser emission has been detected towards an AGN central engine (the other galaxy being NGC 3079). It is also the strongest extragalactic millimetre/submillimetre water maser detected to date. Conclusions: Strong millimetre 183 GHz water maser emission has now been shown to occur in an external galaxy. For NGC 4945, we believe that the maser emission arises, or is dominated by, emission from the AGN central engine. Emission at higher velocity, i.e. for a Keplerian disk closer to the black hole, has been detected at 183 GHz compared with that for the 22 GHz megamaser. This indicates that millimetre/submillimetre water masers can indeed be useful probes for tracing out more of AGN central engine structures and dynamics than previously probed. Future observations using ALMA Band 5 should unequivocally determine the origin of the emission in this and other galaxies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2016

Calibration of mixed-polarization interferometric observations

Heterodyne receivers register the sky signal on either a circular polarization basis (where it is split into left-hand and right-hand circular polarization) or a linear polarization basis (where it is split into horizontal and vertical linear polarization). We study the problem of interferometric observations performed with telescopes that observe on different polarization bases, hence producing visibilities that we call "mixed basis" (i.e., linear in one telescope and circular in the other). We present novel algorithms for the proper calibration and treatment of such interferometric observations and test our algorithms with both simulations and real data. The use of our algorithms will be important for the optimum calibration of forthcoming observations with the Atacama Large mm/submm Array (ALMA) in very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) mode. Our algorithms will also allow us to optimally calibrate future VLBI observations at very high data rates (i.e., wide bandwidths), where linear-polarization feeds will be preferable at some stations, to overcome the polarimetric limitations due to the use of quarter-wave plates.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2014

Very Long Baseline Interferometry with the SKA

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.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2013

High-Angular-Resolution and High-Sensitivity Science Enabled by Beamformed ALMA

An international consortium is presently constructing a beamformer for the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile that will be available as a facility instrument. The beamformer will aggregate the entire collecting area of the array into a single, very large aperture. The extraordinary sensitivity of phased ALMA, combined with the extremely fine angular resolution available on baselines to the Northern Hemisphere, will enable transformational new very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations in Bands 6 and 7 (1.3 and 0.8 mm) and provide substantial improvements to existing VLBI arrays in Bands 1 and 3 (7 and 3 mm). The ALMA beamformer will have impact on a variety of scientific topics, including accretion and outflow processes around black holes in active galactic nuclei (AGN), tests of general relativity near black holes, jet launch and collimation from AGN and microquasars, pulsar and magnetar emission processes, the chemical history of the universe and the evolution of fundamental constants across cosmic time, maser science, and astrometry.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2011

LOFAR and APERTIF surveys of the radio sky: probing shocks and magnetic fields in galaxy clusters

At very low frequencies, the new pan-European radio telescope LOFAR is opening the last unexplored window of the electromagnetic spectrum for astrophysical studies. The revolutionary APERTIF phased arrays that are about to be installed on the Westerbork radio telescope (WSRT) will dramatically increase the survey speed for the WSRT. Combined surveys with these two facilities will deeply chart the northern sky over almost two decades in radio frequency from \sim 15 up to 1400 MHz. Here we briefly describe some of the capabilities of these new facilities and what radio surveys are planned to study fundamental issues related the formation and evolution of galaxies and clusters of galaxies. In the second part we briefly review some recent observational results directly showing that diffuse radio emission in clusters traces shocks due to cluster mergers. As these diffuse radio sources are relatively bright at low frequencies, LOFAR should be able to detect thousands of such sources up to the epoch of cluster formation. This will allow addressing many question about the origin and evolution of shocks and magnetic fields in clusters. At the end we briefly review some of the first and very preliminary LOFAR results on clusters.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2011

LOFAR: Recent imaging results & future prospects

The Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) is under construction in the Netherlands and in several surrounding European countries. In this contribution, we describe the layout and design of the telescope, with a particular emphasis on the imaging characteristics of the array when used in its "standard imaging" mode. After briefly reviewing the calibration and imaging software used for LOFAR image processing, we show some recent results from the ongoing imaging commissioning efforts. We conclude by summarizing future prospects for the use of LOFAR in observing the little-explored low frequency Universe.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2011

LOFAR: Early imaging results from commissioning for Cygnus A

The Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) will operate between 10 and 250 MHz, and will observe the low frequency Universe to an unprecedented sensitivity and angular resolution. The construction and commissioning of LOFAR is well underway, with over 27 of the Dutch stations and five International stations routinely performing both single-station and interferometric observations over the frequency range that LOFAR is anticipated to operate at. Here, we summarize the capabilities of LOFAR and report on some of the early commissioning imaging of Cygnus A.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2010

Some planar isospectral domains

We give a number of examples of isospectral pairs of plane domains, and a particularly simple method of proving isospectrality. One of our examples is a pair of domains that are not only isospectral but homophonic: Each domain has a distinguished point such that corresponding normalized Dirichlet eigenfunctions take equal values at the distinguished points. This shows that one really can't hear the shape of a drum.

math.DG↗