Precision and Accuracy of Intercontinental Distance Determinations Using Radio Interferometry

摘要

Very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) is a technique which potentially can measure intercontinental distances with 1 cm precision. Already, measurements have been made which have nearly reached this goal, if we accept the standard deviations calculated from statistical arguments. However, the sources of errors in these measurements must be carefully analyzed and accounted for to ensure reliability in the interpretation of results obtained from VLBI data analysis. In this thesis, we concentrate on examining both the theory and the quality of the VLBI delay measurements. Using the redundant nature of the VLBI observations, we develop a number of quality tests. These tests are applied to data taken in VLBI experiments between July 1980 and January 1982. All of these tests lead to similar qualitative conclusions about the performance of the Mark III VLBI system. There are, however, differences from each of these tests in the quantitative conclusions about the system performance. These tests indicate that the actual statistics of the VLBI group delay observations do not match the theoretically calculated statistics.