Computer simulations of interferometric imaging with the VLT   interferometer and the AMBER instrument
  We present computer simulations of interferometric imaging with the VLT interferometer and the AMBER instrument. These simulations include both the astrophysical modelling of a stellar object by radiative transfer calculations and the simulation of light propagation from the object to the detector (through atmosphere, telescopes, and the AMBER instrument), simulation of photon noise and detector read-out noise, and finally data processing of the interferograms. The results show the dependence of the visibility error bars on the following observational parameters: different seeing during the observation of object and reference star (Fried parameters r_0,object=2.4m, r_0,ref.=2.5m, different residual tip-tilt error (delta_tt,object=2% of the Airy disk diameter, delta_tt,ref.=0.1%), and object brightness (K_object=3.5 mag and 11 mag, K_ref.=3.5 mag). Exemplarily, we focus on stars in late stages of stellar evolution and study one of its key objects, the dusty supergiant IRC+10420 that is rapidly evolving on human timescales. We show computer simulations of VLTI interferometry of IRC+10420 with two ATs (wide-field mode, i.e. without fiber optics spatial filters) and discuss whether the visibility accuracy is sufficient to distinguish between different theoretical model predictions. 
T. Bloecker, K.-H. Hofmann, F. Przygodda and G. Weigelt   (Max-Planck-Institut fuer Radioastronomie, Bonn, Germany)