In this paper we describe the first data release of the the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) Deep Extragalactic Observations (VIDEO) survey. VIDEO is a ∼ 12 degree 2 survey in the near-infrared Z,Y ,J,H and K s bands, specifically designed to enable the evolution of galaxies and large structures to be traced as a function of both epoch and environment from the present day out to z=4, and active galactic nuclei (AGN) and the most massive galaxies up to and into the epoch of reionization. With its depth and area, VIDEO will be able to fully explore the period in the Universe where AGN and starburst activity were at their peak and the first galaxy clusters were beginning to virialize. VIDEO therefore offers a unique data set with which to investigate the interplay between AGN, starbursts and environment, and the role of feedback at a time when it was potentially most crucial.We provide data over the VIDEO-XMM3 tile, which also covers the Canada-France-Hawaii-Telescope Legacy Survey Deep-1 field (CFHTLS-D1). The released VIDEO data reach a 5σ AB-magnitude depth of Z = 25.7, Y = 24.5, J = 24.4, H = 24.1 and K s = 23.8 in 2 arcsec diameter apertures (the full depth of Y = 24.6 will be reached within the full integration time in future releases). The data are compared to previous surveys over this field and we find good astrometric agreement with the Two-Micron All Sky Survey, and source counts in agreement with the recently released UltraVISTA survey data. The addition of the VIDEO data to the CFHTLS-D1 optical data increases the accuracy of photometric redshifts and significantly reduces the fraction of catastrophic outliers over the redshift range 0 < z < 1 from 5.8 to 3.1 per cent in the absence of an i−band luminosity prior. However, we expect the main improvement in photometric redshifts will come in the redshift range 1 < z < 4 due to the sensitivity to the Balmer and 4000 Å breaks provided by the near-infrared VISTA filters. All images and catalogues presented in this paper are publicly available through ESO's phase 3 archive and the VISTA Science Archive.

The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS) is a deep 120-168 MHz imaging survey that will eventually cover the entire northern sky. Each of the 3170 pointings will be observed for 8 h, which, at most declinations, is sufficient to produce ∼5 resolution images with a sensitivity of ∼100 µJy/beam and accomplish the main scientific aims of the survey, which are to explore the formation and evolution of massive black holes, galaxies, clusters of galaxies and large-scale structure. Owing to the compact core and long baselines of LOFAR, the images provide excellent sensitivity to both highly extended and compact emission. For legacy value, the data are archived at high spectral and time resolution to facilitate subarcsecond imaging and spectral line studies. In this paper we provide an overview of the LoTSS. We outline the survey strategy, the observational status, the current calibration techniques, a preliminary data release, and the anticipated scientific impact. The preliminary images that we have released were created using a fully automated but direction-independent calibration strategy and are significantly more sensitive than those produced by any existing large-area low-frequency survey. In excess of 44 000 sources are detected in the images that have a resolution of 25 , typical noise levels of less than 0.5 mJy/beam, and cover an area of over 350 square degrees in the region of the HETDEX Spring Field (right ascension 10h45m00s to 15h30m00s and declination 45• 00 00 to 57• 00 00 ).

We present the first wide area (19 deg 2 ), deep (≈ 120-150 µJy beam −1 ), high resolution (5.6× 7.4 arcsec) LOFAR High Band Antenna image of the Boötes field made at 130-169 MHz. This image is at least an order of magnitude deeper and 3 − 5 times higher in angular resolution than previously achieved for this field at low frequencies. The observations and data reduction, which includes full direction-dependent calibration, are described here. We present a radio source catalogue containing 6 276 sources detected over an area of 19 deg 2 , with a peak flux density threshold of 5σ . As the first thorough test of the facet calibration strategy, introduced by van Weeren et al., we investigate the flux and positional accuracy of the catalogue. We present differential source counts that reach an order of magnitude deeper in flux density than previously achieved at these low frequencies, and show flattening at 150 MHz flux densities below 10 mJy associated with the rise of the low flux density star-forming galaxies and radioquiet AGN.

The birth of the first luminous sources and the ensuing epoch of reionization are best studied via the redshifted 21-cm emission line, the signature of the first two imprinting the last. In this work we present a fully-Bayesian method, HIBAYES, for extracting the faint, global (sky-averaged) 21-cm signal from the much brighter foreground emission. We show that a simplified (but plausible), Gaussian model of the 21-cm emission from the Cosmic Dawn epoch (15 z 30), parameterized by an amplitude A HI , a frequency peak ν HI and a width σ HI , can be extracted even in the presence of a structured foreground frequency spectrum (parameterized as a 7 th -order polynomial), provided sufficient signal-to-noise (400 hours of observation with a single dipole). We apply our method to an early, 19-minute long observation from the Large aperture Experiment to detect the Dark Ages, constraining the 21-cm signal amplitude and width to be −890 < A HI < 0 mK and σ HI > 6.5 MHz (corresponding to ∆z > 1.9 at redshift z 20) respectively at the 95-per-cent confidence level in the range 13.2 < z < 27.4 (100 > ν > 50 MHz).

The Arcminute Microkelvin Imager is a pair of interferometer arrays operating with six frequency channels spanning 13.9-18.2 GHz, for observations on angular scales of 30 arcsec-10 arcmin and for declinations greater than −15 • ; the Small Array has a sensitivity of 30 mJy s −1/2 and the Large Array has a sensitivity of 3 mJy s −1/2 . The telescope is aimed principally at Sunyaev-Zel'dovich imaging of clusters of galaxies. We discuss the design of the telescope and describe and explain its electronic and mechanical systems.

We present a Bayesian approach to modelling galaxy clusters using multi‐frequency pointed observations from telescopes that exploit the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect. We use the recently developed multinest technique to explore the high‐dimensional parameter spaces and also to calculate the Bayesian evidence. This permits robust parameter estimation as well as model comparison. Tests on simulated Arcminute Microkelvin Imager observations of a cluster, in the presence of primary CMB signal, radio point sources (detected as well as an unresolved background) and receiver noise, show that our algorithm is able to analyse jointly the data from six frequency channels, sample the posterior space of the model and calculate the Bayesian evidence very efficiently on a single processor. We also illustrate the robustness of our detection process by applying it to a field with radio sources and primordial CMB but no cluster, and show that indeed no cluster is identified. The extension of our methodology to the detection and modelling of multiple clusters in multi‐frequency SZ survey data will be described in a future work.

The Q/U Imaging ExperimenT (QUIET) has observed the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at 43 and 95 GHz. The 43 GHz results have been published in a previous paper, and here we report the measurement of CMB polarization power spectra using the 95 GHz data. This data set comprises 5337 hr of observations recorded by an array of 84 polarized coherent receivers with a total array sensitivity of 87 μK √ s. Four low-foreground fields were observed, covering a total of ∼1000 deg 2 with an effective angular resolution of 12. 8, allowing for constraints on primordial gravitational waves and high signal-to-noise measurements of the E-modes across three acoustic peaks. The data reduction was performed using two independent analysis pipelines, one based on a pseudo-C (PCL) cross-correlation approach, and the other on a maximum-likelihood (ML) approach. All data selection criteria and filters were modified until a predefined set of null tests had been satisfied before inspecting any non-null power spectrum. The results derived by the two pipelines are in good agreement. We characterize the EE, EB, and BB power spectra between = 25 and 975 and find that the EE spectrum is consistent with ΛCDM, while the BB power spectrum is consistent with zero. Based on these measurements, we constrain the tensor-to-scalar ratio to r = 1.1 +0.9 −0.8 (r < 2.8 at 95% C.L.) as derived by the ML pipeline, and r = 1.2 +0.9 −0.8 (r < 2.7 at 95% C.L.) as derived by the PCL pipeline. In one of the fields, we find a correlation with the dust component of the Planck Sky Model, though the corresponding excess power is small compared to statistical errors. Finally, we derive limits on all known systematic errors, and demonstrate that these correspond to a tensor-to-scalar ratio smaller than r = 0.01, the lowest level yet reported in the literature.

We report new cm‐wave measurements at five frequencies between 15 and 18 GHz of the continuum emission from the reportedly anomalous ‘region 4’ of the nearby galaxy NGC 6946. We find that the emission in this frequency range is significantly in excess of that measured at 8.5 GHz, but has a spectrum from 15 to 18 GHz consistent with optically thin free–free emission from an ultracompact H ii region. In combination with previously published data, we fit four emission models containing different continuum components using the Bayesian spectrum analysis package radiospec. These fits show that, in combination with data at other frequencies, a model with a spinning dust component is slightly preferred to those that possess better‐established emission mechanisms.