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Arcminute Microkelvin Imager

Arcminute Microkelvin Imager

<tr> <td align="center" colspan="2">Arcminute Microkelvin Imager:Mrao ami lba ryle
The long baseline array of AMI, utilizing antennas from the Ryle Telescope. The telescopes have been re-positioned since this photo was taken.</small></td> </tr><tr> <th>Location:</th> <td>Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory, Cambridge</td> </tr><tr> <th>Wavelength:</th> <td>12-18 GHz</td> </tr><tr> <th>Built:</th> <td>2003-2005</td> </tr><tr> <th>Website:</th> <td>AMI website</td> </tr>

The Arcminute Microkelvin Imager (AMI) is an interferometer radio telescope designed principally to image secondary anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at higher angular resolution than the Very Small Array. It consists of two interferometric arrays sited at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory in Cambridge, both operating in the frequency range 12-18 GHz. The short baseline array consists of ten 3.7-m parabolic antennas while the long-baseline array is composed of seven 13m antennas. The larger 13m antennas are currently being upgraded with new receivers.

The main goals of the project are to carry out a survey of clusters of galaxies via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (the scattering of the CMB off gas in the cluster), with follow-up observations at other wavelengths, and to do pointed observations of individual clusters. AMI will also make very high resolution observations of the primordial CMB power spectrum.

The resulting catalogue of galaxy clusters could shed light on the nature of dark energy (thought to account for about 70% of the energy density of the Universe). Full survey observations commenced after commissioning observations in August 2005, which mapped the cluster plasma in Abell 1914.


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Radio telescopes | Cavendish Laboratory | Interferometers | Multiple aperture telescopes

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