Microwave Imaging Spectroscopy with the Owens Valley Solar Array

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This program will enable continuing operations of the Owens Valley Solar Array (OVSA), a university-based solar-dedicated radio imaging array. It will provide partial support for the personnel on the site at Owens Valley Radio Observatory (Big Pine, CA), and for graduate student and postdoctoral research. It also provides funds to maintain the web interface that provides data to the scientific community. This award will support an instrumental upgrade that will leverage recent advances by Dr. Gary's group and provide a substantial boost in array performance. As the only solar-dedicated radio instrument in the United States, continued operation of the instrument will, through its unique combination of imaging and spectral coverage, provide quantitative physical measurements of solar particles and magnetic fields in thousands of solar flares expected as a new solar cycle ramps up toward its 2011 peak. The award will also support two areas of solar radio research: 1) determination of the three-dimensional coronal structure of particles and fields in flaring loops, through theory, modeling, and observations in both radio and hard X-rays, and 2) the first true imaging of decimetric bursts with the resolution needed to follow their temporal and spectral dynamics, utilizing the unique capabilities of the upgraded OVSA. Dr. Gary and his group will also continue to work on the effects of solar radio bursts on wireless communication and navigation systems, and on methods for detecting and excising radio frequency interference. In addition to these efforts, continued operation of OVSA during this period will provide for new observations to be used by the solar community, including collaborative observations with space instruments in support of which NASA funds have already been received. The OVSA facilities provide a test bed for prototyping of antennas, feeds, and analog and digital systems for the Frequency Agile Solar Radiotelescope (FASR), which will be a national facility. The design and development for FASR includes participation by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), University of Michigan, University of Maryland, University of California Berkeley and Caltech. The OVSA data are used by scientists world-wide to add unique information in their studies of the Sun and solar activity. OVSA observations have proven critical in the discovery and understanding of the direct impacts of solar radio bursts on cell-phone communication and on navigation systems such as the Global Positioning System. The OVSA data provide research projects for undergraduate and graduate students at NJIT and elsewhere. Currently, three NJIT graduate students are doing Ph.D. research using OVSA. NJIT is an urban school, in downtown Newark, NJ.