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W. A. Traub (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA)
Recent scientific results from the IOTA interferometer include measurements of the angular sizes of circumstellar dust disks around Herbig AeBe stars, observations of the dust envelope size around the x-ray outburst object CI Cam, measurements of the diameter and possible asymmetry of the semi-regular variable SW Vir, measurements of the diameter of the Mira variable R Leo, observations of the diameter variation of the Cepheid Zeta Gem, and other results.
Most of the results to date have required us either to observe stars which are relatively faint (for current practice in ground-based interferometry, that is), or to measure fringe visibilities with high precision; the main technologies which enabled these observations will be discussed, viz., our NICMOS-3 camera, and the FLUOR single-mode fiber beam combiner, respectively. Our NASA-sponsored project to add a third telescope and begin phase-closure measurements is well underway, and is expected to be completed this year. Future projects will be discussed, including our PICNIC detector upgrade, our increasing collaboration with the CHARA project, and our hope to install adaptive optics at the IOTA interferometer.
We gratefully acknowledge support from NASA, NSF, the Univ. of Massachusetts, and the Smithsonian Institution.