The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is one of three Square Kilometre Array Precursor telescopes and is located at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in the Murchison Shire of the mid-west of Western Australia, a location chosen for its extremely low levels of radio frequency interference. The MWA operates at low radio frequencies, 80-300 MHz, with a processed bandwidth of 30.72 MHz for both linear polarisations, and consists of 128 aperture arrays (known as tiles) distributed over a ß3-km diameter area. Novel hybrid hardware/software correlation and a real-time imaging and calibration systems comprise the MWA signal processing backend. In this paper, the as-built MWA is described both at a system and sub-system level, the expected performance of the array is presented, and the science goals of the instrument are summarised.

A comprehensive analysis of 355 high‐quality Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) H i 21‐cm line maps of nearby galaxies shows that the properties and incident rate of damped Lyman α absorption systems (DLAs) observed in the spectra of high‐redshift QSOs are in good agreement with DLAs originating in gas discs of galaxies like those in the z≈ 0 population. Comparison of low‐z DLA statistics with the H i incidence rate and column density distribution f(NH i) for the local galaxy sample shows no evidence for evolution in the integral ‘cross‐section density’〈nσ〉=l−1 (l= mean free path between absorbers) below z≈ 1.5, implying that there is no need for a hidden population of galaxies or H i clouds to contribute significantly to the DLA cross‐section. Compared with z≈ 4, our data indicate evolution of a factor of 2 in the comoving density along a line of sight. We find that dN/dz(z= 0) = 0.045 ± 0.006. The idea that the local galaxy population can explain the DLAs is further strengthened by comparing the properties of DLAs and DLA galaxies with the expectations based on our analysis of local galaxies. The distribution of luminosities of DLA host galaxies, and of impact parameters between QSOs and the centres of DLA galaxies, is in good agreement with what is expected from local galaxies. Approximately 87 per cent of low‐z DLA galaxies are expected to be fainter than L*, and 37 per cent have impact parameters less than 1 arcsec at z= 0.5. The analysis shows that some host galaxies with very low impact parameters and low luminosities are expected to be missed in optical follow‐up surveys. The well‐known metallicity–luminosity relation in galaxies, in combination with metallicity gradients in galaxy discs, causes the expected median metallicity of low‐z DLAs to be low (∼1/7 solar), which is also in good agreement with observations of low‐z DLAs. We find that f(NH i) can be fitted satisfactorily with a gamma distribution, a single power law is not a good fit at the highest column densities NH i > 1021 cm−2. The vast majority (≈81 per cent) of the H i gas in the local Universe resides in column densities above the classical DLA limit (NH i > 2 × 1020 cm−2), with NH i∼ 1021 cm−2 dominating the cosmic H i mass density.

We present a Stokes I, Q and U survey at 189 MHz with the Murchison Widefield Array 32element prototype covering 2400 square degrees. The survey has a 15.6 arcmin angular resolution and achieves a noise level of 15 mJy beam −1 . We demonstrate a novel interferometric data analysis that involves calibration of drift scan data, integration through the co-addition of warped snapshot images and deconvolution of the point spread function through forward modeling. We present a point source catalogue down to a flux limit of 4 Jy. We detect polarization from only one of the sources, PMN J0351-2744, at a level of 1.8 ± 0.4%, whereas the remaining sources have a polarization fraction below 2%. Compared to a reported average value of 7% at 1.4 GHz, the polarization fraction of compact sources significantly decreases at low frequencies. We find a wealth of diffuse polarized emission across a large area of the survey with a maximum peak of ∼13 K, primarily with positive rotation measure values smaller than +10 rad m −2 . The small values observed indicate that the emission is likely to have a local origin (closer than a few hundred parsecs). There is a large sky area at α ≥ 2 h 30 m where the diffuse polarized emission rms is fainter than 1 K. Within this area of low Galactic polarization we characterize the foreground properties in a cold sky patch at (α, δ) = (4 h , −27 • .6) in terms of three dimensional power spectra.

We have detected the four 18 cm OH lines from the z approximaetely 0.765 gravitational lens toward PMN J0134-0931. The 1612 and 1720 MHz lines are in conjugate absorption and emission, providing a laboratory to test the evolution of fundamental constants over a large lookback time. We compare the HI and OH main line absorption redshifts of the different components in the z approximately 0.765 absorber and the z approximately 0.685 lens toward B0218 + 357 to place stringent constraints on changes in F triple-bond g(p)[alpha(2)/mu](1.57). We obtain [DeltaF/F] = (0.44 +/- 0.36(stat) +/- 1.0(sys)t) x 10(-5), consistent with no evolution over the redshift range 0 < z < or = 0.7. The measurements have a 2sigma sensitivity of [Deltaalpha/alpha] < 6.7 x 10(-6) or [Deltamu/mu] < 1.4 x 10(-5) to fractional changes in alpha and mu over a period of approximately 6.5 G yr, half the age of the Universe. These are among the most sensitive constraints on changes in mu.

-Detection of the cosmological neutral hydrogen signal from the Epoch of Reionization, and estimation of its basic physical parameters, is the principal scientific aim of many current lowfrequency radio telescopes. Here we describe the Cosmological HI Power Spectrum Estimator (CHIPS), an algorithm developed and implemented with data from the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), to compute the two-dimensional and spherically-averaged power spectrum of brightness temperature fluctuations. The principal motivations for CHIPS are the application of realistic instrumental and foreground models to form the optimal estimator, thereby maximising the likelihood of unbiased signal estimation, and allowing a full covariant understanding of the outputs. CHIPS employs an inverse-covariance weighting of the data through the maximum likelihood estimator, thereby allowing use of the full parameter space for signal estimation ("foreground suppression"). We describe the motivation for the algorithm, implementation, application to real and simulated data, and early outputs. Upon application to a set of 3 hours of data, we set a 2σ upper limit on the EoR dimensionless power at k = 0.05 h.Mpc −1 of ∆ 2 k < 7.6×10 4 mK 2 in the redshift range z = [6.2 − 6.6], consistent with previous estimates.

The Murchison Widefield Array is a new low-frequency interferometric radio telescope built in Western Australia at one of the locations of the future Square Kilometre Array. We describe the automated radio-frequency interference detection strategy implemented for the Murchison Widefield Array, which is based on the aoflagger platform, and present 72-231 MHz radio-frequency interference statistics from 10 observing nights. Radio-frequency interference detection removes 1.1% of the data. Radio-frequency interference from digital TV is observed 3% of the time due to occasional ionospheric or atmospheric propagation. After radio-frequency interference detection and excision, almost all data can be calibrated and imaged without further radio-frequency interference mitigation efforts, including observations within the FM and digital TV bands. The results are compared to a previously published Low-Frequency Array radio-frequency interference survey. The remote location of the Murchison Widefield Array results in a substantially cleaner radiofrequency interference environment compared to Low-Frequency Array's radio environment, but adequate detection of radio-frequency interference is still required before data can be analysed. We include specific recommendations designed to make the Square Kilometre Array more robust to radio-frequency interference, including: the availability of sufficient computing power for radio-frequency interference detection; accounting for radio-frequency interference in the receiver design; a smooth band-pass response; and the capability of radio-frequency interference detection at high time and frequency resolution (second and kHz-scale respectively).

The separation of the faint cosmological background signal from bright astrophysical foregrounds remains one of the most daunting challenges of mapping the high-redshift intergalactic medium with the redshifted 21 cm line of neutral hydrogen. Advances in mapping and modeling of diffuse and point source foregrounds have improved subtraction accuracy, but no subtraction scheme is perfect. Precisely quantifying the errors and error correlations due to missubtracted foregrounds allows for both the rigorous analysis of the 21 cm power spectrum and for the maximal isolation of the "EoR window" from foreground contamination. We present a method to infer the covariance of foreground residuals from the data itself in contrast to previous attempts at a priori modeling. We demonstrate our method by setting limits on the power spectrum using a three hour integration from the 128-tile Murchison Widefield Array. Observing between 167-198 MHz, we find at 95% confidence a best limit of ∆ 2 (k) < 3.7 × 10 4 mK 2 at comoving scale k = 0.18 h Mpc −1 and at z = 6.8, consistent with existing limits.PACS numbers: 95.75.Kk, 98.80.Es

We report the discovery of two low redshift HI 21cm absorbers, one at z = 0.2212 towards the z em = 0.630 quasar OI 363 (B0738+313), and the other at z = 0.3127 towards PKS B1127-145 (z em = 1.187). Both were found during a survey of MgII selected systems at redshifts 0.2 < z < 1 using the new UHF-high system at the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT). New HST/FOS observations also identify both systems as damped Lyα (DLa) absorbers. By comparing the column density from the DLa line with that from the HI 21cm line, we calculate the spin temperature, T s of the two systems. We find T s ≈ 1000 K for both of these low redshift absorbers.For the z = 0.3127 system towards PKS B1127-145, two galaxies have been previously identified with emission lines at the absorber redshift (Bergeron & Boissé, 1991), with the galaxy at a closer projected distance to the quasar assumed to be responsible for the absorption system. An ESO-NTT/EFOSC2 spectrum of a 3rd, fainter companion at 3.9 arcsec or 11 h −1 100 kpc from the line of sight of PKS 1127-145 reveals [OIII]4958 and 5007 at z = 0.3121 ± 0.0003. We consider this object the most likely to be responsible for the 21cm absorption, as it is much closer to the QSO sightline than the two galaxies identified by Bergeron & Boissé.