NEW 145 MHz SOURCE MEASUREMENTS BY PAPER IN THE SOUTHERN SKY

Abstract

We present observations from the Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionization (PAPER) in South Africa, observed in 2010 May and September. Using two nights of drift scanning with PAPER's 60• FWHM beam we have made a map covering the entire sky below +10• declination with an effective center frequency of 145 MHz, a 70 MHz bandwidth, and a resolution of 26 . A 4800 deg 2 region of this large map with the lowest Galactic emission reaches an rms of 0.7 Jy. We establish an absolute flux scale using sources from the 160 MHz Culgoora catalog. Using the 408 MHz Molonglo Reference Catalog (MRC) as a finding survey, we identify counterparts to 480 sources in our maps and compare our fluxes to the MRC and to 332 sources in the Culgoora catalog. For both catalogs, the ratio of PAPER to catalog flux averages to 1, with a standard deviation of 50%. This measured variation is consistent with comparisons between independent catalogs observed at different bands. The PAPER data represent new 145 MHz flux measurements for a large number of sources in the band expected to encompass cosmic reionization and represents a significant step toward establishing a model for removing foregrounds to the reionization signal.

Parametrizing Epoch of Reionization foregrounds: a deep survey of low-frequency point-source spectra with the Murchison Widefield Array

“…Table 2 shows the following flux density measurements: this work; the MWA commissioning survey (MWACS; Hurley-Walker et al 2014); the Culgoora catalogue (Slee 1995); and the PAPER catalogue (Jacobs et al 2011). Our measurements are consistent with MWACS and Culgoora assuming a 10% error margin on both catalogues and our measurements.…”

“…Our measurements are consistent with MWACS and Culgoora assuming a 10% error margin on both catalogues and our measurements. One of the PA-PER catalogue measurements deviates more than 100% from ours, but Jacobs et al (2011) quote a 50% standard error for their catalogue, and is likely therefore the cause of the deviation.…”

PAPER-64 CONSTRAINTS ON REIONIZATION: THE 21 cm POWER SPECTRUM ATz= 8.4

“…Using this as our measured bandpass for this simulated signal, we finally compare the power spectrum from the output of the simulated signal to the input power spectrum as a function fo k-mode. We find that between k 0.06 0.06 -< < , the width of our wideband delay filter described below, the signal loss is less than 3% and at the mode right outside the above limit is (Jacobs et al 2011). Image was synthesized with two hours of visibilities while Pictor A was in transit and 53 MHz of instantaneous bandwidth from 120 to 173 MHz.…”

Reconsidering the advantages of the three-dimensional representation of the interferometric transform for imaging with non-coplanar baselines and wide fields of view

“…The results for instruments that satisfy these conditions, from the earliest synthesis arrays such as OMT (Ryle et al 1965) to contemporary instruments such as KAT (Carignan et al 2013), validate this approach. Now, a range of telescopes which have been recently deployed or are currently being developed have large non-coplanar baselines, such as SKA (Dewdney et al 2009); or subtend wide FoVs, such as PAPER (Jacobs et al 2011); or both, such as LOFAR (van Haarlem et al 2013). …”