A Programmable VLBI Image Model-Fitting Pipeline

M. Zhang1, A. Collioud1 and P. Charlot1

1Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux, Floirac, France

Poster

  We have developed a model-fitting pipeline programme to help extracting image model information efficiently through massive VLBI data sets. The pipeline exploits search and destroy method to find non-isolated emission peaks above a certain noise level in an image. The model parameters of interested source suspects are then fed to the image plane model-fitting programme for detailed modelling in a defined image window. The image plane fitted models are then fed to the uv plane model-fitting programme for modelling directly against visibility data. The digested outputs can be used for statistics for various purposes. The pipeline is totally programmable and scalable. Personalised modules can be easily added in. This programme has been tested with RDV geodetic multi-epoch VLBI observations. It was very successful in automatically modelling simple-structured sources. By comparing observed images and model simulated images, we can easily find out sources with complex structures which need special treats.