Sensitivity of an imaging space infrared interferometer.
We study the sensitivities of space infrared interferometers. We formulate the signal-to-noise ratios of infrared images obtained by aperture synthesis in the presence of source shot noise, background shot noise, and detector read noise. We consider the case in which n beams are combined pairwise at n(n-1)/2 detectors and the case in which all the n beams are combined at a single detector. We apply the results to future missions, Terrestrial Planet Finder and Darwin. We also discuss the potential of a far-infrared interferometer for a deep galaxy survey.
Nakajima
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T
National Astronomical Observatory, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588, Japan. tadashi.nakajima@nao.ac.jp
Matsuhara
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