FAST VLBI observation and science
Abstract
One of the primary scientific goals of the world largest single-dish radio telescope --- Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) is high angular resolution observations of radio sources. With its unprecedented collecting area, FAST will greatly improve the sensitivity of very long baseline interferometry (VLBI), and broaden the sciences with the capability of detecting much weaker radio sources than ever before. However, the unique designs of FAST, such as the complicate system of target tracking and very small field of view, present new challenges of VLBI observations. In this paper, we discuss the selection and position determination of the VLBI reference point, and the implement of phase-reference observing modes of FAST. Finally, some potential contributions of FAST to low frequency high-sensitivity VLBI astronomy are described.
