Wavelength-dependent sensitivity limitations affecting low light level Michelson stellar interferometry

Abstract

The use of multiple aperture ground interferometers to measure directly the diameters of resolvable stars or to determine the separations and position angles of compact multiple star systems is well established in the literature. The general utility of this technique for producing catalogs of such observations, however, is fundamentally constrained by such noise processes as shot noise, detector dark current, and background radiation, all of which limit interferometric sensitivity. We review the various sensitivity limitations affecting low light level Michelson amplitude interferometry for these applications and calculate the wavelength-dependent detection thresholds as expressed in limiting stellar visual magnitudes that can be so achieved.