Opening Remarks Room: PI/4-405 - Bob Room

Intensity correlations: imaging and quantum optics in astrophysics

• Robin Kaiser (Université Cote D'Azur)

Room: PI/4-405 - Bob Room In this talk, I will give an introduction to intensity correlations for astrophysical imaging, as pioneered by Hanbury Brown and Twiss. This triggered a wider effort for the field of quantum optics, which I will put into a larger context beyond astrophysical imaging. I will also give an overview of the past results on intensity correlations for astrophysical imaging by our group in Nice and present the ongoing effort towards resolving a white dwarf and to search for signatures of random lasing in space.

Intensity Interferometry with the H.E.S.S. telescopes

• Naomi Vogel (ECAP, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg)

Room: PI/4-405 - Bob Room Intensity Interferometry (II) is a method that can achieve high angular resolution and was first employed in the 1960s by Robert Brown and Richard Q. Twiss (HBT). Since then, significant advancements have been made, particularly in the construction of telescopes with large light collection areas, such as Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs), exemplified by instruments like H.E.S.S. , MAGIC and VERITAS. Our II setup was designed to be mounted on the lid of the Phase I H.E.S.S. telescopes in Namibia. In April 2022, our first observation campaign was conducted, during which two telescopes operated in a single wavelength band. In April-May 2023, a third telescope was added, and observations were performed in two colors simultaneously for the first time in II. In this contribution I will introduce our setup and compare the different configurations, as well as present the latest results of four southern hemisphere stars.

Progress Toward Multi-Channel Intensity Interferometry with the Southern Connecticut Stellar Interferometer

• Elliott Horch (Southern Connecticut State University)

Room: PI/4-405 - Bob Room The renaissance in stellar intensity interferometry has resulted in two main types of telescope arrays: those using large "light bucket" telescopes and photomultiplier tubes, such as CTA, VERITAS, MAGIC, and others, and those that instead use smaller, more traditional astronomical telescopes with high-grade optics, such as the systems at the Cote d'Azur and Asiago Observatories. To detect and timestamp photons, these latter systems have used single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) detectors. This talk will focus on the latter type of instrument, which is also being pursued at Southern Connecticut State University. The current status of our instrument, the Southern Connecticut Stellar Interferometer (SCSI), will be reviewed, and prospects for improved sensitivity will be discussed. Principal among these is the use of SPAD arrays, which are increasingly available, to record different wavelengths simultaneously. If a sufficient number of channels can be employed, this type of intensity interferometer can reach much fainter magnitudes than currently possible. The talk will also briefly discuss work toward wireless intensity interferometry with SCSI, which will make larger baselines easier to set up and use, and ideas for quantum-assisted intensity interferometry that might be employed with SCSI in the future.

The VERITAS SII Observatory

• David Kieda (The University of Utah)

Room: PI/4-405 - Bob Room The VERITAS Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope array was augmented in 2019 with high-speed focal plane electronics to allow VERITAS for Stellar Intensity Interferometry (VSII) observations. Since December 2019, VSII has been used to measure angular diameters of bright (OBA) stars at an effective wavelength of 416 nm. VSII observations have also served as a testbed to explore hardware and analysis improvements to advance the instrument's sensitivity. VSII has performed more than 730 hours of moonlit observations on 56 bright stars and binary systems ($ -1.46 < m_V < 4.22$). This talk will describe the VSII observatory, highlight selected observations made by the VSII observatory, and describe ongoing improvements in detector instrumentation and analysis.

The Multi Aperture Spectroscopic Telescope: Status and potential as an intensity interferometry facility

• Sagi Ben Ami (Weizmann Institute of Science)

Room: PI/4-405 - Bob Room The Multi-Aperture Spectroscopic Telescope is an array of 20x60cm prime-focus telescopes with single F/3 parabolic mirrors. The telescope array is being commissioned in the Negev Desert, with 10 telescopes expected to see first light by the end of the year. In the following talk, I will present the array, its various properties, including unique fiber coupling and imaging units, and its potential as an intensity interferometry facility.

Intensity Interferometer Results on Sirius with 0.25 m Telescopes

• Tom Mozdzen (Arizona State University)

Room: PI/4-405 - Bob Room We present the design and initial results of a stellar intensity interferometer using small 0.25 m Newtonian-style telescopes in an urban backyard setting. The primary purpose of the interferometer is to measure the angular diameters of stars. Recent advances in low jitter time-tagging equipment and Single Photon Avalanche Detectors have made the detection of second-order correlation signals, necessary for Intensity Interferometry as demonstrated by Hanbury Brown and Twiss in 1956, feasible with small telescopes. Using Sirius as a target star, we observe a strong second-order correlation spike with an integrated signal to noise ratio (SNR) ∼7 after 13.55 h of integration over a three-night period using a 3.3 m baseline. The measured signal agrees with the theoretical estimates of both coherence time, 𝜏coh = 0.74 ± 0.26 ps and SNR. We discuss the future expansion of this technique with multiple wavelengths simultaneously via a prism grating and multiple detectors.

Future Astrophysical Targets for Intensity Interferometry

• Norman Murray (Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA))

Room: PI/1-100 - Theatre Interferometry is the use of wave interference to measure the properties of a source observed by two or more detectors. For example, the Event Horizon Telescope measures the phase and amplitude of 1.3 mm wavelength radiation at telescopes up to ten thousand kilometers apart to reveal event horizon scale images of supermassive black holes. Measuring wave phases in the optical has been demonstrated for baselines no longer than hundreds of meters. Intensity interferometry dispenses with the need to measure phases, allowing much larger baselines, and hence much higher spatial resolution. The technique has been in use for seven decades, but recent advances in detector technology have reinvigorated interest in the method. I will discuss the basics of intensity interferometry, the characteristics of the new detectors, and possible applications of broad astrophysical and cosmological interest. The latter include estimates of the Hubble constant from observations of the disks of active galactic nuclei (AGN), with possible impact on the Hubble tension. The same observations will provide detailed information on the AGN disk and line emission regions; the latter may be crucial for estimating the mass loss rates in AGN winds, which are believed to impact their host galaxies. Other possible applications include spatially resolved measurements of stellar oscillations, which, by analogy with helioseismology, would provide constraints on the run of temperature in stellar interiors, as well as the interior differential rotation.

Short Talks and Panel Discussion #1

• Peng Kian Tan (Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore)
• Marios Galanis (Perimeter Institute)
• Christopher Ingenhütt (ECAP, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg)
• Aaron Mueninghoff (Stony Brook University)

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Review of Photon Counters

• Karl Berggren (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
• Joshua Bienfang (National Institute of Standards and Technology)

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High Throughput Single Photon Detection for effective SII

• Verena Leopold (Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, FAU Erlangen)

Room: PI/4-405 - Bob Room In this talk we want to promote a new kind of single photon detector able to record high count rates with the prospect of making stellar intensity interferometry (SII) measurements more effective. This micro-channel plate based photomultiplier tube from Photonscore (LINPix) is nearly dead time free and offers an active area of 8mm diameter. By choosing a matching photocathode, the quantum efficiency (QE) can take values greater than 30% at the desired wavelength. Using a Hi-QE Blue photocathode in a testbench featuring a fs-pulsed laser we were able to measure the timing resolution of the LINPix at different count rates from 190kHz up to 95 MHz. We find that the timing resolution of the detector only increases marginally when increasing the laser power and stays well below 100ps. Hence, we conclude that together with the LINTag, a suitable time to digital converter from Photonscore able to process the high throughput, this system can contribute significantly to the further development of SII.

Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors for Intensity Interferometry

• Ioana Craiciu (Jet Propulsion Lab)

Room: PI/4-405 - Bob Room Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) are of interest for intensity interferometry measurements because they have picosecond timing resolution. In addition, they work from the UV to mid-IR, with excellent eOiciency at visible and near-IR wavelengths, and are being fabricated into ever-larger detector arrays. On behalf of my colleagues in the JPL SNSPD group, I will present on the Deep Space Optical Communication (DSOC) demonstration, in which an SNSPD array was coupled to the 5 mHale telescope at Palomar, and received data at 267 Mbps from the Psyche spacecraft, the first optical communication between Earth and interplanetary space. The DSOC infrastructure at Palomar is suitable for intensity interferometry, as demonstrated by g(2) correlation (photon bunching) measurements of the stars Rigel and Procyon. I will also describe our current work on SNSPD array readout schemes, extending detector sensitivity into the mid-IR, and improving the system timing jitter of SNSPD arrays.

SNSPDs: Prospects for Intensity Interferometry

• Boris Korzh (Caltech)

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Review of Astro

• Charles Gammie (University of Illinois)

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The QUASAR project : Resolving Accretion Disks with Quantum Optics

• Roland Walter (University of Geneva)

Room: PI/4-405 - Bob Room Accretion flows aroud black-holes, neutron stars or white dwarfs are studied since almost 60 years. Although they are ubiquitous and somewhat similar over scales reaching billions in mass and size, their study has been limited because they remain unresolved point like sources in the optical/ultraviolet and X-rays, where they emit. Two main modes of accretion have been identified in Active Galactic Nuclei. In most sources the accretion rate is low and a high pressure, low density, low collision rate, optically thin, radiatively inefficient, two temperature plasma can form (Shapiro 1976; Narayan & Yi 1994,1995). This solution is stable only for low luminosities (<1% LEDD). The Event Horizon Telescope has recently resolved such flows in Sgr A and M87, confirmed several aspects of the model and could detect particles accelerated close to the horizon of Sgr A (Wielgus, 2022) a likely signature of the Blandford-Znajek (1977) process. When the accretion rate is higher, momentum can be dissipated by viscosity and the flow proceeds via geometrically thin disk-shaped structures. These accretion disks provide feedback to their environment by accelerating winds and launching jets in their central regions. The apparent size of accretion disks are of the order of 1-40µarcsec in nearby quasars, Seyfert galaxies and galactic cataclysmic variables and of 0.1-1µarcsec in of low mass X-ray binaries in our Galaxy. Hanbury-Brown & Twiss (1954) invented intensity interferometry and measured the size of some bright stars by correlating the arrival times of photons detected by two optical telescopes. The physics has been explained as a quantum effect in the early 60s (Fano 1961) and has triggered the development of quantum optics (Glauber 1963). Its root is found in the quantum theory of statistical fluctuations in an ideal gas (Einstein 1925). The achievable signal-to-noise depends on the telescope size, the detector time resolution, and the number of spectral channels observed simultaneously. Extremely large telescope and 10ps resolution single photon detectors bring the key improvements to reach in the optical angular resolutions better than these achieved in the radio by the Event Horizon Telescope and to obtain the first images of accretion disks around galactic and extragalactic compact objects, a breakthrough. I will present the goals and the status of the QUASAR project, which started one year ago, aiming at bringing a 10ps resolution optical spectrometer on very large telescope.

Short Talks and Panel Discussion #2

• Federico Izraelevitch (University of San Martin and National Research Council of Argentina)
• Sebastian Karl (QOQI, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg)
• Michael Rubel (Carnegie Observatories)

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H0 from intensity interferometry

• Marios Galanis (Perimeter Institute)

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Binary AGN

• Geoffrey Ryan (Perimeter Institute)

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Leveraging Intensity Interferometry Towards Understanding Massive Stars and Supernovae

• Jared Goldberg (Flatiron Institute)

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Supernova Morphology and Hubble Constant with Intensity Interferometer

• I-Kai (Calvin) Chen (New York University)

Room: PI/4-405 - Bob Room We demonstrate the ability to measure supernova morphology and distance using the P Cygni line profile with intensity interferometer.

Extended-Path Intensity Correlation

• Ken van Tilburg (New York University)

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Two-Photon Methods for Astrometric Gravitational Wave Detection

• Paul Stankus (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

Room: PI/4-405 - Bob Room With the observation of gravitational waves (GW's) at high, kilohertz frequencies by LIGO and the evidence for GW's at low, nanohertz frequencies from NANOGrav there is a new emphasis on exploring the GW landscape at intermediate frequency ranges. Beyond the two measurement methods used in these observations, i.e. laser metrology in LIGO and pulsar timing offsets in NANOGrav, we have been developing a third approach of observing astrometric GW signatures, which is very well suited to the intermediate microhertz frequency range. While astrometric GW observations have been discussed in the context of survey missions, e.g. GAIA, this presentation will exhibit a potentially superior approach using long baseline two-photon interferometry, with both space-based and ground-based platforms. The practicalities of a near-future experiment will be particularly highlighted

Bayesian Imaging for Intensity Interferometry with Deep Generative Priors

• Biwei Dai (University of California, Berkeley)

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Image Reconstruction From Intensity Interferometry

• Albert Stebbins (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory)

Room: PI/4-405 - Bob Room Even with dense sampling of the uv plane intensity correlations only contain half the information required to reconstruct an image. Intensity correlations do contain the full information of the image power spectrum and therefore of the image 2-point correlation function. With some practice one can gain intuitive understanding in interpreting 2-point correlation function "images". This is illustrated with both toy examples and modeling of real astronomical images. In some assumptions one can even interpret these 2-point correlation function "images" with only a few baselines.

Generative AI for Image Reconstruction: A First Attempt

• Prasenjit Saha (University of Zurich)

Room: PI/4-405 - Bob Room In modern astronomy, artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly utilized to analyze large volumes of data, significantly reducing the need for human computational resources and time. Machine learning (ML) techniques are at the forefront of revealing astronomical mysteries by analyzing observed data. Here, we will introduce the application of machine learning to Intensity Interferometry (II) data for high-resolution optical astronomy, aiming to overcome the limitations of traditional image reconstruction methods. In this presentation, we demonstrate successful image reconstruction of a fast-rotating star using conditional Generative Adversarial Networks (cGANs), a supervised machine learning approach. Simulations of II are based on an assembly of four telescopes similar to existing arrays. However, the sensitivity of the signal and high resolution are expected to improve with additional baselines. It makes the current and future Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) an ideal candidate for II applications. Our approach is highly relevant and innovative, addressing key challenges in phase reconstruction and proposing novel solutions that could revolutionize high-resolution imaging in astronomy.

Short Talks and Panel Discussion #3

• Chad Bender (University of Arizona)
• Lifan Wang (Texas A&M University)

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Closing Remarks

• Phil Mauskopf (Arizona State Universtiy)

Room: PI/4-405 - Bob Room