1. LBCS: The LOFAR Long-Baseline Calibrator Survey
- Author
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Rebecca McFadden, G. M. Loose, J. van Leeuwen, J. Schaap, N. J. Vermaas, M. P. van Haarlem, Philip Best, M. Sipior, E. de Geus, E. Juette, D. Engels, Sarod Yatawatta, J. Moldón, George Heald, Anna M. M. Scaife, C. Vocks, F. Breitling, M. Iacobelli, L. Cerrigone, D. D. Mulcahy, H. J. A. Röttgering, Matthias Hoeft, John D. Swinbank, Jean-Mathias Griessmeier, W. Reich, P. Maat, James M. Anderson, M. A. Garrett, Amitpal S. Tagore, I. van Bemmel, J. Sluman, Roberto Pizzo, R. Vermeulen, Marcus Brüggen, Satyendra Thoudam, Aleksandar Shulevski, R. Blaauw, M. C. Toribio, Emanuela Orrú, A. Horneffer, R. J. van Weeren, W. N. Brouw, Martin Bell, M. Avruch, Michael W. Wise, Jörg R. Hörandel, D. McKay-Bukowski, Jochen Eislöffel, Gerard H. Kuper, P. Zarka, Adam Deller, A. Drabent, Mark J. Bentum, Arthur Corstanje, Dominik J. Schwarz, Matthias Steinmetz, F. de Gasperin, Richard Fallows, H. Munk, A. G. Polatidis, Tobia Carozzi, Annalisa Bonafede, S. ter Veen, Leah K. Morabito, A. W. Gunst, John Conway, Anna D. Kapińska, Huib Intema, Heino Falcke, J. W. Broderick, M. Pandey-Pommier, Neal Jackson, Antonia Rowlinson, John McKean, Michiel A. Brentjens, B. Ciardi, Eskil Varenius, O. Wucknitz, M. Kuniyoshi, School of Physics and Astronomy [Manchester], University of Manchester [Manchester], Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), Departament d'Astronomia i Meteorologia [Barcelona], Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Onsala Space Observatory, Dept. of Radio and Space Science, Chalmers University of Technology, Chalmers University of Technology [Göteborg], ARC Centre of Excellence for Autonomous Systems (CAS), University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Swedish Institute of Space Physics [Uppsala] (IRF), Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics (DPMMS), Faculty of mathematics Centre for Mathematical Sciences [Cambridge] (CMS), University of Cambridge [UK] (CAM)-University of Cambridge [UK] (CAM), Department of Astrophysics [Nijmegen], Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics (IMAPP), Radboud university [Nijmegen]-Radboud university [Nijmegen], GeoForschungsZentrum - Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam (GFZ), Newcastle University [Newcastle], Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE ERIC), University of Hamburg, Leiden Observatory [Leiden], Universiteit Leiden [Leiden], Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP), Oxford Astrophysics, University of Oxford [Oxford], University of Southampton, Kapteyn Astronomical Institute [Groningen], University of Groningen [Groningen], University of Edinburgh, Radboud university [Nijmegen], Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg (TLS), Hamburger Sternwarte/Hamburg Observatory, Universität Hamburg (UHH), Unité Scientifique de la Station de Nançay (USN), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers en région Centre (OSUC), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université d'Orléans (UO), Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace (LPC2E), Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers en région Centre (OSUC), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National d’Études Spatiales [Paris] (CNES), Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie (MPIFR), Astronomisches Institut der Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Ruhr-Universität Bochum [Bochum], National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), Health Service Executive [Dublin] (HSE), Aalborg University [Denmark] (AAU), Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon (CRAL), École normale supérieure - Lyon (ENS Lyon)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS), Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam (AIP), Princeton University, SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON), Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique (LESIA), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), European Project: 283393,EC:FP7:INFRA,FP7-INFRASTRUCTURES-2011-1,RADIONET3(2012), High Energy Astrophys. & Astropart. Phys (API, FNWI), Radboud University [Nijmegen]-Radboud University [Nijmegen], Universiteit Leiden, University of Oxford, Radboud University [Nijmegen], Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université d'Orléans (UO)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), École normale supérieure de Lyon (ENS de Lyon)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Jackson, N., Tagore, A., Deller, A., Moldón, J., Varenius, E., Morabito, L., Wucknitz, O., Carozzi, T., Conway, J., Drabent, A., Kapinska, A., Orrù, E., Brentjens, M., Blaauw, R., Kuper, G., Sluman, J., Schaap, J., Vermaas, N., Iacobelli, M., Cerrigone, L., Shulevski, A., Ter Veen, S., Fallows, R., Pizzo, R., Sipior, M., Anderson, J., Avruch, I.M., Bell, M.E., Van Bemmel, I., Bentum, M.J., Best, P., Bonafede, A., Breitling, F., Broderick, J.W., Brouw, W.N., Brüggen, M., Ciardi, B., Corstanje, A., De Gasperin, F., De Geus, E., Eislöffel, J., Engels, D., Falcke, H., Garrett, M.A., Grießmeier, J.M., Gunst, A.W., Van Haarlem, M.P., Heald, G., Hoeft, M., Hörandel, J., Horneffer, A., Intema, H., Juette, E., Kuniyoshi, M., Van Leeuwen, J., Loose, G.M., Maat, P., McFadden, R., McKay-Bukowski, D., McKean, J.P., Mulcahy, D.D., Munk, H., Pandey-Pommier, M., Polatidis, A.G., Reich, W., Röttgering, H.J.A., Rowlinson, A., Scaife, A.M.M., Schwarz, D.J., Steinmetz, M., Swinbank, J., Thoudam, S., Toribio, M.C., Vermeulen, R., Vocks, C., Van Weeren, R.J., Wise, M.W., Yatawatta, S., Zarka, P., and Astronomy
- Subjects
Coherence time ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Astronomy ,interferometers [instrumentation] ,galaxies: active ,EWI-27445 ,Flux ,FOS: Physical sciences ,02 engineering and technology ,01 natural sciences ,Radio continuum: galaxie ,law.invention ,Instrumentation: interferometer ,Telescope ,surveys ,law ,0103 physical sciences ,0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering ,Range (statistics) ,Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology ,Survey ,instrumentation: interferometers ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) ,GeneralLiterature_REFERENCE(e.g.,dictionaries,encyclopedias,glossaries) ,media_common ,radio continuum: galaxies ,Instrumentation:interferometers- Techniques:interferometric - Surveys - Galaxies:active -Radio continuum:galaxies ,020206 networking & telecommunications ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,LOFAR ,Astronomy and Astrophysic ,Geodesy ,Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies ,galaxies [radio continuum] ,Square degree ,interferometric [techniques] ,METIS-319490 ,Sky ,Space and Planetary Science ,techniques: interferometric ,[SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics] ,Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) ,active [galaxies] ,Environmental science ,Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics ,IR-102283 ,Coherence (physics) - Abstract
(abridged). We outline LBCS (the LOFAR Long-Baseline Calibrator Survey), whose aim is to identify sources suitable for calibrating the highest-resolution observations made with the International LOFAR Telescope, which include baselines >1000 km. Suitable sources must contain significant correlated flux density (50-100mJy) at frequencies around 110--190~MHz on scales of a few hundred mas. At least for the 200--300-km international baselines, we find around 1 suitable calibrator source per square degree over a large part of the northern sky, in agreement with previous work. This should allow a randomly selected target to be successfully phase calibrated on the international baselines in over 50% of cases. Products of the survey include calibrator source lists and fringe-rate and delay maps of wide areas -- typically a few degrees -- around each source. The density of sources with significant correlated flux declines noticeably with baseline length over the range 200--600~km, with good calibrators on the longest baselines appearing only at the rate of 0.5 per square degree. Coherence times decrease from 1--3 minutes on 200-km baselines to about 1 minute on 600-km baselines, suggesting that ionospheric phase variations contain components with scales of a few hundred kilometres. The longest median coherence time, at just over 3 minutes, is seen on the DE609 baseline, which at 227km is close to being the shortest. We see median coherence times of between 80 and 110 seconds on the four longest baselines (580--600~km), and about 2 minutes for the other baselines. The success of phase transfer from calibrator to target is shown to be influenced by distance, in a manner that suggests a coherence patch at 150-MHz of the order of 1 degree., Accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics. Error in figure 6 corrected
- Published
- 2016