M2FINDERS - Science Enabled with Multi-Band Receivers and Frequency Phase Transfer

Recent developments of multi frequency receivers with shared optical path (SOP) have brought a number of new scientific and technological opportunities to VLBI. With these receivers, the technique of frequency phase transfer (FPT) can become a true backbone of VLBI operations at frequencies above 22 GHz. This opportunity has already been fully exploited at the Korean VLBI Network (KVN) and it is gaining ever more prominent attention in Europe where up to six telescopes soon may start operating three-band (22/43/86 GHz) SOP receivers

In the framework of the ERC AdG project M2FINDERS and with large facility project funding from the Max Planck Society, a three-band receiver is planned for the 100-m radio telescope in Effelsberg.

This workshop aims to focus and streamline all of the ongoing efforts by reviewing individual plans and initiatives, setting main scientific goals and priorities, and identifying the best approaches for organizing VLBI observations in the FPT mode. The workshop should serve as a starting point of a broader process of forming a coherent effort for coordinating the FPT VLBI observations. We plan to formulate the outcomes of the workshop in a report that would be submitted to the EVN, KVN, and GMVA.

Attendance is by invitation only.

Workshop Group Picture, taken on October 12