Welcome to the new Issue of the JIVE/EVN Newsletter.

A lot has happened since the last edition, and this issue reports on exciting new scientific results, as well as updates on international projects and collaborations.

We wish to draw your attention to the results of the coronal radio-sound measurements of the ESA's Mars Express, which were obtained with the EVN thanks to uncommon applications of the VLBI technique. We further wish to highlight the report on the review paper on star formation and nuclear activity in LIRGs, a science area where the contribution of the EVN has been invaluable.

In the framework of the Global VLBI Alliance and the long-standing collaboration with the EVN, we congratulate our colleagues in the East Asian VLBI Network for the important step forward with their recently updated Memorandum of Understanding. The JUMPING JIVE project has very successfully ended, and the European radio community is now engaged in ensuring success to the EC-H2020 OPTICON-RadioNet Pilot.

Finally, the successful series of EVN online seminars is continuing, with an exciting calendar of speakers and topics throughout 2022.

All this and much more are included in this issue.

We thank our community for the continuous dedication which ensures advances, observations and excellent science delivery.

Tiziana Venturi, EVN Consortium Board of Directors Chair
Francisco “Paco” Colomer, JIVE Director

Observing proposals are invited for the European VLBI Network (EVN). Deadline: 1 February 2022, 16:00:00 UTC. The EVN facility is open to all astronomers. Astronomers with limited or no VLBI experience are particularly encouraged to apply for observing time. Student proposals are judged favorably. Support with proposal preparation, scheduling, correlation, data reduction and analysis can be requested from the Joint Institute for VLBI ERIC (JIVE). Check details of the call for proposals here.

EVN Support+ programme
 
JIVE/EVN initiates a pilot programme to provide extended support to teams new to the EVN, with little or no direct VLBI experience. This includes the scheduling of the VLBI run and the VLBI-specific parts of the data reduction (including a-priori amplitude calibration and fringe-fitting). Imaging, and the interpretation of the data is the responsibility of the team. We aim to support some standard VLBI projects, evaluated by the EVN Program Committee with the highest grades. See the call for proposals below. For further questions please contact the Chair of the EVN PC, Zsolt Paragi (evnpc@jive.eu).

SMILE: Searching for MIlli-LEnses
Carolina Casadio, Institute of Astrophysics, FORTH, Greece

 

A team of astronomers performed a pilot search for milli-lens candidates using publicly available VLBI data of 13,828 sources from the Astrogeo VLBI FITS image database. The direct observable of milli-lensing are compact objects in the mass range 10⁶-10⁹ solar masses, such for example DM halos on sub-galactic scales. Read More

In a recent review (Pérez-Torres et al. 2021), an international  team of astronomers provides an overview of the impact of spatially resolved infrared, sub-millimetre and radio observations in the study of the interstellar medium, star formation and active galactic nuclei as well as their interplay in local LIRGs. Read More

 

This article presents the methods to measure the frequency and phase fluctuations of the spacecraft radio signal received by VLBI antennas during solar conjunction, and the applications to study the characteristics of the plasma turbulence at a single station and at multiple stations via cross correlation. Read More

 

This study observed 8 FR0s with the VLBA and EVN at frequencies of 5 and 8 GHz. The sources show fine structures at pc scales, flat spectrum, mildly relativistic jet bulk speeds, low bulk Lorentz factors, and large viewing angles. Read More

The Institute of Radioastronomy in Italy tells the story of its origins
Tiziana Venturi, INAF, Istituto di Radioastronomia, Italy

The Institute of Radioastronomy recently published a book on its origins, from the very early discussions among a group of young physicists, to the construction of the radio telescopes all the way to the science, technology and computing developments up to year 2000. The main aim of the publication is to acknowledge the founders of radio astronomy in Italy and to make sure that the new generations of Italian radio astronomers become aware of the long process which has made Italy one of the world leading countries in the field. Read More

Concluding a new Memorandum of Understanding for the East Asian VLBI Network
Kiyoaki Wajima, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, East Asian VLBI Network Collaboration, Republic of Korea

A new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the East Asian VLBI Network (EAVN) has been concluded in October 2021. This MoU is a big step forward for future mutual and substantial collaboration in VLBI sciences between not only East Asian countries but also Southeastern countries. Read More

In the past months some important hardware changes have happened at JIVE.  Read More

The EVN is pleased to announce the second edition of the series of online seminars “The sharpest view of the radio Universe: VLBI – Connecting Astronomers Worldwide”. Five seminars will cover different science topics illustrating how VLBI can improve our understanding of many astronomical phenomena and how this technique is useful for the whole astronomical community. The new seminars started on 29 November 2021 and will be organised around every six weeks. Read More

 

The article presents an analysis of the Azores 32-metre SATCOM dish upgrade. This location enables observations down to -52º and can contribute to the exploration of joint programs from ESO,  ALMA and SKA and other facilities targeting transient sources or nuclear explosions in the Universe like Auger, HESS and CTA. Read More

 

The H2020 JUMPING JIVE project, which successfully passed its final review by the European Commission, has been instrumental during the past 4 years in the development and reinforcement of JIVE and the EVN activities in key aspects for their sustainability that will impact the VLBI community in the next decades. Read More

 

A Session on “Very Long Baseline Interferometry” was held on 2 September 2021, co-organised by JIVE as part of the XXXIV General Assembly and Scientific Symposium of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI GASS 2021) in Rome, Italy. Read More

 

The OPTICON-RadioNet Pilot (ORP) project brings together 37 institutions from the ground-based astronomy community in an effort to support and develop seamless access to radio and optical facilities. Funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020, the project was launched in March 2021. Read More