Towards high-performance mm-VLBI science operations with multi-band receivers

28 Oct 2025, 09:00 → 31 Oct 2025, 14:00 Europe/Rome

215 (Area della Ricerca CNR)

 

 

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Latest news - updated October 24th

Practical Information

The workshop will take place at the CNR Research area in Bologna. You will have to show your ID at the main gate on your arrival on the first day, and your conference badge from the second day. The sessions will take place in room #215 on the first floor, just above the main hall.  Further information on how to reach the meeting venue are given in this page.

On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, lunch will be served at the venue and coffee breaks will also be provided. There will be no formal social dinner. Instead, we plan an informal night out at a local pub on Thursday, offering an opportunity to meet and interact in a relaxed setting. Participation will be at each participant’s own expense.

Presenters are requested to upload their presentations in advance, at least half a day before their scheduled session. Please use the following drive link. If you have difficulties accessing the drive, please contact us by email.  The preferred format for presentations is PDF; we will also support PowerPoint and OpenOffice formats. Please note that each presentation slot includes dedicated time for discussion:

• Long talks (20 minutes or more): 5 minutes for questions and discussion

• Short talks: 3 minutes for questions and discussion

 

Wi-Fi access and other on-site information will be shared at registration.

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Rationale

Developments of multi frequency receivers with shared optical paths are bringing new scientific and technological opportunities to Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). Operations at frequencies above 22 GHz, thanks to the technique of frequency phase transfer (FPT), are becoming feasible at sites with ordinary atmospheric conditions, as shown by the performance of the Korean VLBI Network (KVN). Several telescopes in Europe, including the three INAF radio telescopes, are in the process of developing or installing three-band (22/43/86 GHz) receivers. Combined with source-frequency phase referencing (SFPR), this holds an exceptional discovery potential that would strongly impact a number of scientific fields, ranging from fundamental cosmology and black hole physics to stellar astrophysics and studies of transient phenomena.

This workshop aims at extending the activities started after the 2022 Bonn workshop. It will feature reports from the science and technology working groups, status updates from the institutes in the process of designing/installing/operating three-band receivers, an overview of the possible extension of the FPT technique to even higher frequencies, a series of reviews of the evolving multimessenger context, and ample discussion sessions devoted to science opportunities, technical development, and organisational challenges. We expect the meeting to foster international collaboration and exchanges, particularly by encouraging the engagement of the Italian community. The workshop also sets a goal of converging on a reference “baseline” configuration for a global array, to be taken as a reference for the development of science cases.

In addition to the above described sessions by invitation, we expect to be able to accommodate several contributed talks. Contributions are encouraged on scientific, technical, and organisational topics. Abstract submission will remain open until May 30 and we expect to announce the full workshop programme on July 1st. 

Important Dates

• 2025 June 15: Abstract submission deadline
• 2025 July 7: Preliminary programme announcement
• 2025 September 26: Registration closes
• 2025 October 28-30: workshop in Bologna
• 2025 October 31: visit to Medicina radio telescopes

 

Logistics

There will be no registration fee.  Coffee breaks and lunches will be provided, while a conference dinner will be organised but will be at each participant’s own expense.  The workshop will take place at the CNR Research area in Bologna.

On the day after the sessions (Friday, October 31st), we will organise a visit to the Medicina radioastronomical station for interested participants.  The Medicina station is undergoing major upgrades, with the installation of the active surface on the 32m dish that is currently underway, refurbishment of the Northern Cross, and preparation for the installation of a LOFAR 2.0 station.  Please indicate your interest in the visit through the registration form.

Invited Speakers

• Pietro Bolli
• Alberto Colombo
• Pablo de Vicente
• Richard Dodson
• Mareki Honma
• Giulia Illuminati
• Hiroshi Imai 
• Taehyun Jung
• Wu Jiang
• Micheal Lindqvist
• Tuomas Savolainen
• Roberta Zanin
• Guangyao Zhao

Scientific Organising Committee

• John Conway
• Marcello Giroletti
• Federica Govoni
• Andrei Lobanov
• Maria Rioja
• Eduardo Ros
• Bong Won Sohn
• Corrado Trigilio
• Tiziana Venturi

 

Local Organising Committee

• Marcello Giroletti
• Rocco Lico
• Cristiana Spingola
• Matteo Stagni
• Alice Tabellini
• Tiziana Venturi

 

 

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SCAM Emails warning

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We have received some alerts of email scams being sent to participants that look like the following - please be aware and ignore them.

 

Greetings ,

Kindly inform us of your arrival and departure dates in Bologna and we will reserve your room for the conference in October.

Your prompt response would be appreciated so that we may email you the hotel booking link and confirm the reservation.

Remember that our reservations are fully flexible, able to be refunded, and modifiable up to 14 days prior to the arrival date.

Thank you,

Do contact the Global Travel Team at:
United Kingdom Office : (+44) 208 0808439
Canada Office : (+1) 833 833 2107

Our team is ready to support you.

2025 FPT workshop - Timetable - v2_07.07.2025.pdf

Poster mmVLBIworkshop v5.pdf

Poster_mmVLBIworkshop_PNRR.pdf

Tuesday 28 October

09:00 → 09:10 Welcome

09:10 → 09:40 Science working group review

Speaker: Andrei Lobanov

09:40 → 10:00 Expanding the Global mm-VLBI Array with Multi-Band Receivers

Speaker: Eduardo Ros (MPI für Radioastronomie)

10:00 → 10:20 Tri-band maser studies of star-forming regions

Speaker: Dr Kazi Rygl (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

10:20 → 10:40 Tracking Binary SMBH Orbits Using Global K/Q/W Simultaneous VLBI: Test Observations with KVN and Yebes-40m

Speaker: Hyunwook Ro (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)

10:40 → 11:10 Coffee Break

11:10 → 11:30 Proposal of Observing 183 GHz Water Megamasers with VLBI: Scientific motivation and Feasibility

Speaker: Prof. Yoshiaki Hagiwara (Toyo University)

11:30 → 11:50 DARKER: a science case to shed light on dark matter and dark energy with the tri-band receivers

Speaker: Cristiana Spingola (INAF - Istituto di Radioastronomia)

11:50 → 12:10 EVN observations of the high-frequency methanol masers

Speaker: Luca Moscadelli (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

12:10 → 12:30 The Supermassive Black Hole Binary Candidate 3C 66A

Speaker: Paloma Thevenet (Observatoire de Paris - PSL)

12:30 → 14:00 Lunch Break

14:00 → 14:30 Tech working group review

Speaker: Helge Rottmann

14:30 → 14:55 Tri-band receivers for INAF radio telescopes: first light

Speaker: Pietro Bolli (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

20251028_Bolli_triband_mmVLBI.pptx

14:55 → 15:20 KVN Update

Speaker: Taehyun Jung

15:20 → 15:35 Exploring weak targets with simultaneous multi-band observations and an update of the triple band receiver for Tianma-65m and CVN

Speaker: Wu Jiang (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, CAS)

15:35 → 16:05 Coffee Break

16:05 → 16:20 The Yebes 40 m radio telescope multi frequency system at K-, Q- and W-bands

Speaker: Pablo de Vicente (Observatorio de Yebes - IGN)

16:20 → 16:35 Developing FPT/SFPR capabilities for APEX and Effelsberg telescopes

Speaker: Guang-Yao Zhao (MPI für Radioastronomie)

16:35 → 16:50 Tri-band receiver for Onsala Space Observatory

Speaker: Michael Lindqvist (Chalmers)

16:50 → 17:05 Metsähovi Radio Observatory Triple-Band Receiver project

Speaker: Tuomas Savolainen (Metsähovi Radio Observatory)

17:05 → 17:20 The Development Progress of the K/Q/W Triple-Band Cryogenic Receiver for the Tianma Telescope

Speaker: Weiye Zhong (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, CAS)

Wednesday 29 October

09:00 → 09:05 Flash talk on SARAO's Receivers Team

The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) is a national facility that is responsible for radio astronomy research and infrastructure development in South Africa. It manages key projects such as the MeerKAT telescope which is a precursor to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA)-mid telescope. The Receivers Team at SARAO is primarily responsible for the production of Digitsers units for radio astronomy receivers. SARAO’s role goes beyond astronomy, fostering innovation in technology, high-performance computing, and skills development across the African continent.

Speaker: Michael Johnston

09:05 → 09:25 Global VLBI in the era of the African Millimeter Telescope

Speaker: James Chibueze (University of South Africa)

09:25 → 09:45 Development of Radio Astronomy Infrastructure in Thailand: The Thai National Radio Telescope and Beyond

Speaker: Bannawit Pimpanuwat (National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand)

09:45 → 10:05 Study and Design of 18GHz Wideband Analog Optical Link and Fiber Transfer Delay Measurement System for millimeter-wave VLBI INAF antennas

Speaker: Jacopo Nanni (Università di Bologna, associato Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

10:05 → 10:30 Current status and future developments of receivers at NAOJ’s VLBI facilities

In this presentation I will review current status of receivers at VLBI stations in Japan, including the frequency bands, bandwidths, and potential for multi-frequency receiving capability. I will focus primarily on VLBI facilities operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), such as the VERA network and the Nobeyama 45m radio telescope, while also briefly introducing the status of radio telescopes at universities and other institutions. In addition, I will introduce ongoing developments of new receivers, including new 86 GHz receivers for VERA and their potential capability for future multi-frequency observations, and a wideband C-band receiver for VERA, as well as planned 1-mm receiver for the Nobeyama 45m telescope.

Speaker: Mareki Honma

10:30 → 10:45 Development of multi-band receiving systems in the Nobeyama 45 m telescope and its perspective

Speaker: Hiroshi Imai (Kagoshima University)

10:45 → 11:10 Coffe Break

11:10 → 12:30 Discussion session 1: Technology

Chairs: M. Rioja, B. W. Sohn

12:30 → 14:00 Lunch Break

14:00 → 14:25 VHE (CTAO) science review

Speaker: Michele Doro (University of Padova)

14:25 → 14:50 GW science review

Speaker: Alberto Colombo (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

14:50 → 15:15 Neutrino astrophysics

Speaker: Giulia Illuminati (INFN Bologna)

15:15 → 15:35 Prospects for sub-mm astrometry with the updated Event Horizon Telescope

Speaker: Richard Dodson (ICRAR)

15:35 → 16:00 Coffee Break

16:00 → 16:20 Multi-frequency Gaussian modeling of AGN jets with the extended Korean VLBI Network

Speaker: Hyeon-Woo Jeong (University of Science and Technology, Korea (UST) / Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Korea (KASI))

16:20 → 16:40 Multimessenger study of neutrino-candidate blazar PKS 0735+178 using Korean VLBI Network multi-band observations

Speaker: Dr Sanghyun Kim (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI))

16:40 → 17:00 Multifrequency VLBI detection of supermassive black hole binaries at millimeter wavelengths

Speaker: Shan-Shan Zhao (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory)

17:00 → 17:20 Acceleration and Collimation Zone (ACZ) of the NGC 4261 Jet: A Scaled-down Counterpart to M 87?

In this report, we present our recent study of the acceleration and collimation of the two-sided jets in the nearby low-luminosity AGN NGC 4261. We robustly identify a parabolic-to-conical structural transition in both the jet and counterjet, with the transition occurring on (sub)parsec scales. Based on the jet-to-counterjet brightness, we derive the jet velocity field at distances of ∼ (10^3 -10^4) Rs. Although local kinematic variations are present, the jet shows an overall acceleration to relativistic speeds within the parabolic jet region. These results support the existence of a (sub)parsec-scale (≲ 1.5 pc) ACZ in NGC 4261. A brief comparison with M 87 suggests that the ACZ in NGC 4261 may represent a scaled-down analogue of that in M 87. We prospect that future (sub)mm-VLBI observations with multi-band receivers will be crucial to explore jet launching regions and their connection to ACZs.

Speaker: Xi Yan (Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory(XAO), CAS)

17:20 → 17:40 Is PKS 1540−077 a Compact Symmetric Object or a SMBH Pair?

Speaker: Xiaopeng Cheng (Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute)

Thursday 30 October

09:00 → 09:25 Sardinia radio telescope status and challenges

Speaker: Sergio Poppi (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

09:25 → 09:50 Multi-frequency enabling at the stations of Medicina and Noto

Speaker: Andrea Orlati (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF))

09:50 → 10:30 Discussion on INAF Activities

Chairs: F. Govoni, C. Trigilio

10:30 → 11:00 Coffee Break

11:00 → 11:20 Sub-pc scale mm molecular clouds associated with the torus of NGC 1052

Speaker: Satoko Sawada-Satoh (Osaka Metropolitan University)

11:20 → 12:40 Discussion session 2: Science

Chairs: A. Lobanov, T. Venturi, R. Lico

12:40 → 14:10 Lunch Break

14:10 → 15:40 Discussion session 3: Management and Baseline definitions

chairs: J. Conway, E. Ros

Friday 31 October

09:00 → 13:00 Visit to Medicina radio observatory