Maximum entropy imaging of polarization in very long baseline interferometry

Simultaneous deconvolution of the Stokes parameter images I, Q, and U from a shift invariant point spread function is achieved by extending the maximum entropy algorithm of Cornwell and Evans1 to deal with linear polarization. This algorithm is used to image very long baseline interferometer (VLBI) total intensity and linear polarization data. Unresolved features can be removed from the data via other methods prior to maximum entropy deconvolution, or the data can be tapered with a Gaussian beam to smooth any point sources.