Documentation and Help

The Plateau de Bure interferometer is a complex instrument. Previous knowledge of interferometry is necessary to use it correctly, and reading a standard textbook for this field is highly recommended (e.g. Thompson A.R., Moran J.M., and Swenson G.W., 1986 Interferometry and Synthesis in Radio Astronomy, John Wiley & Sons, Eds.). Information specific to the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI) is available in the following documents:

• PdBI: CLIC Users Manual
  Detailed documentation of the off-line calibration program. It assumes the user has previous knowledge of interferometry.
• GILDAS Users Manual:
  Documentation of the mapping and display software. GILDAS is an image processing system with many capabilities, and the documentation assumes the user has a basic knowledge of image processing.
• PdBI: Frequency Setup:
  A special purpose documentation describing some nasty details about the frequency setup of the Plateau de Bure interferometer.
• PdBI: Flux Measurements:
  This documentation describes how fluxes of the strongest quasars are monitored at Plateau de Bure.
• PdBI: Atmospheric Calibration:
  A general description of atmospheric transmission calibration, valid for both the 30-m and the 15-m antennas.
• PdBI: ASTRO Users Guide:
  ASTRO is a graphic program to help planning observations. It is quite useful for complex observing programs such as series of snapshots on many sources.
• PdBI: Calibration Cookbook:
  A hitch-hiker's guide to calibrating Plateau de Bure interferometer data with CLIC .
• PdBI: Mapping Cookbook:
  A hitch-hiker's guide to produce and analyze images from the Plateau de Bure interferometer with the GILDAS software.
• PdBI: Trouble Shooting Guide:
  A list of recipes and guidelines to find out why the interferometer is no longer working. In practice, reserved for operators or on-duty astronomers.

Although these manuals are updated relatively frequently, only the on-line help within the programs has the latest revisions.