33 research outputs found
A new technique to improve RFI suppression in radio interferometers
Radio interferometric observations are less susceptible to radio frequency
interference (RFI) than single dish observations. This is primarily due to :
(1)fringe-frequency averaging at the correlator output and (2) bandwidth
decorrelation of broadband RFI. Here, we propose a new technique to improve RFI
suppression of interferometers by replacing the fringe-frequency averaging
process with a different filtering process. In the digital implementation of
the correlator, such a filter should have cutoff frequencies times
the frequency at which the baseband signals are sampled. We show that filters
with such cutoff frequencies and attenuation 40 dB at frequencies above the
cutoff frequency can be realized using multirate filtering techniques.
Simulation of a two element interferometer system with correlator using
multirate filters shows that the RFI suppression at the output of the
correlator can be improved by 40 dB or more compared to correlators using a
simple averaging process.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures; Invited talk given at IVS Symposium in Korea --
New Technologies in VLBI, Korea, Nov 2002; to appear in the conference
proceedings (Added answers to the questions during the discussion session
Magnetic Field Strengths in Photodissociation Regions
We measure carbon radio recombination line (RRL) emission at 5.3 GHz toward four H ii regions with the Green Bank Telescope to determine the magnetic field strength in the photodissociation region (PDR) that surrounds the ionized gas. Roshi suggests that the non-thermal line widths of carbon RRLs from PDRs are predominantly due to magneto-hydrodynamic waves, thus allowing the magnetic field strength to be derived. We model the PDR with a simple geometry and perform the non-LTE radiative transfer of the carbon RRL emission to solve for the PDR physical properties. Using the PDR mass density from these models and the carbon RRL non-thermal line width we estimate total magnetic field strengths of B ~ 100-300 µG in W3 and NGC 6334A. Our results for W49 and NGC 6334D are less well constrained with total magnetic field strengths between B ~ 200-1000 µG. H i and OH Zeeman measurements of the line of sight magnetic field strength (B_(los)), taken from the literature, are between a factor of ~ 0.5-1 of the lower bound of our carbon RRL magnetic field strength estimates. Since |B_(los)| ⩽ B, our results are consistent with the magnetic origin of the non-thermal component of carbon RRL widths
Multi-frequency GMRT Observations of the HII regions S 201, S 206, and S 209 : Galactic Temperature Gradient
We present radio continuum images of three Galactic HII regions, S 201, S
206, and S 209 near 232, 327, and 610 MHz using the Giant Meterwave Radio
Telescope (GMRT). The GMRT has a mix of short and long baselines, therefore,
even though the data have high spatial resolution, the maps are still sensitive
to diffuse extended emission. We find that all three HII regions have bright
cores surrounded by diffuse envelopes. We use the high resolution afforded by
the data to estimate the electron temperatures and emission measures of the
compact cores of these HII regions. Our estimates of electron temperatures are
consistent with a linear increase of electron temperature with Galacto-centric
distance for distances up to 18 kpc (the distance to the most distant HII
region in our sample).Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 13 figures, 6
pages, Late
An 8.5 GHz Arecibo survey of Carbon Recombination Lines toward Ultra-compact \HII regions: Physical properties of dense molecular material
We report here on a survey of carbon recombination lines (RLs) near 8.5 GHz
toward 17 ultra-compact \HII regions (\UCHII s). Carbon RLs are detected in 11
directions, indicating the presence of dense photodissociation regions (PDRs)
associated with the \UCHII s. In this paper, we show that the carbon RLs
provide important, complementary information on the kinematics and physical
properties of the ambient medium near \UCHII s. Non-LTE models for the carbon
line forming region are developed, assuming that the PDRs surround the \UCHII
s, and we constrained the model parameters by multi-frequency RL data. Modeling
shows that carbon RL emission near 8.5 GHz is dominated by stimulated emission
and hence we preferentially observe the PDR material that is in front of the
\UCHII continuum. We find that the relative motion between ionized gas and the
associated PDR is about half that estimated earlier, and has an RMS velocity
difference of 3.3 \kms. Our models also give estimates for the PDR density and
pressure. We found that the neutral density of PDRs is typically 5
10 \cmthree and \UCHII s can be embedded in regions with high ambient
pressure. Our results are consistent with a pressure confined \HII region model
where the stars are moving relative to the cloud core. Other models cannot be
ruled out, however. Interestingly, in most cases, the PDR pressure is an order
of magnitude larger than the pressure of the ionized gas. Further investigation
is needed to understand this large pressure difference.Comment: 28 pages, 7 figures, 5 tables (accepted for publication in ApJ
G359.87+0.18: An FR II Radio Galaxy 15 Arcminutes from Sgr A*. Implications for the Scattering Region in the Galactic Center
G359.87+0.18 is an enigmatic object located 15' from Sgr A*. It has been
variously classified as an extragalactic source, Galactic jet source, and young
supernova remnant. We present new observations of G359.87+0.18 between 0.33 and
15 GHz and use these to argue that this source is an Faranoff-Riley II radio
galaxy. We are able to place a crude limit on its redshift of z > 0.1. The
source has a spectral index \alpha < -1 (S \propto \nu^\alpha), suggestive of a
radio galaxy with a redshift z >~ 2.
The scattering diameters of Sgr A* and several nearby OH masers (~ 1" at 1
GHz) indicate that a region of enhanced scattering is along the line of sight
to the Galactic center. If the region covers the Galactic center uniformly, the
implied diameter for a background source is at least 600" at 0.33 GHz, in
contrast with the observed 20" diameter of G359.87+0.18. Using the scattering
diameter of a nearby OH maser OH 359.762+0.120 and the widths of two, nearby,
non-thermal threads, G0.08+0.15 and G359.79+0.17, we show that a uniform
scattering region should cover G359.87+0.18. We therefore conclude that the
Galactic center scattering region is inhomogeneous on a scale of 5' (~ 10 pc at
a distance of 8.5 kpc). This scale is comparable to the size scale of molecular
clouds in the Galactic center. The close agreement between these two lengths
scales is an indication that the scattering region is linked intimately to the
Galactic center molecular clouds.Comment: Accepted for publication in the ApJ, vol. 515, LaTeX2e manuscript
using aaspp4 macro, 19 pages, 8 figures in 11 PostScript file
The Radio Ammonia Mid-plane Survey (RAMPS) Pilot Survey
The Radio Ammonia Mid-Plane Survey (RAMPS) is a molecular line survey that aims to map a portion of the Galactic midplane in the first quadrant of the Galaxy (l = 10°–40°, | b| \leqslant 0\buildrel{\circ}\over{.} 4) using the Green Bank Telescope. We present results from the pilot survey, which has mapped approximately 6.5 square degrees in fields centered at l = 10°, 23°, 24°, 28°, 29°, 30°, 31°, 38°, 45°, and 47°. RAMPS observes the NH3 inversion transitions NH3(1,1)–(5,5), the H2O 61,6–52,3 maser line at 22.235 GHz, and several other molecular lines. We present a representative portion of the data from the pilot survey, including NH3(1,1) and NH3(2,2) integrated intensity maps, H2O maser positions, maps of NH3 velocity, NH3 line width, total NH3 column density, and NH3 rotational temperature. These data and the data cubes from which they were produced are publicly available on the RAMPS website (http://sites.bu.edu/ramps/)
The Murchison Widefield Array: Design Overview
The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is a dipole-based aperture array
synthesis telescope designed to operate in the 80-300 MHz frequency range. It
is capable of a wide range of science investigations, but is initially focused
on three key science projects. These are detection and characterization of
3-dimensional brightness temperature fluctuations in the 21cm line of neutral
hydrogen during the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) at redshifts from 6 to 10,
solar imaging and remote sensing of the inner heliosphere via propagation
effects on signals from distant background sources,and high-sensitivity
exploration of the variable radio sky. The array design features 8192
dual-polarization broad-band active dipoles, arranged into 512 tiles comprising
16 dipoles each. The tiles are quasi-randomly distributed over an aperture
1.5km in diameter, with a small number of outliers extending to 3km. All
tile-tile baselines are correlated in custom FPGA-based hardware, yielding a
Nyquist-sampled instantaneous monochromatic uv coverage and unprecedented point
spread function (PSF) quality. The correlated data are calibrated in real time
using novel position-dependent self-calibration algorithms. The array is
located in the Murchison region of outback Western Australia. This region is
characterized by extremely low population density and a superbly radio-quiet
environment,allowing full exploitation of the instrumental capabilities.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in Proceedings
of the IEE
First Spectroscopic Imaging Observations of the Sun at Low Radio Frequencies with the Murchison Widefield Array Prototype
We present the first spectroscopic images of solar radio transients from the prototype for the Murchison Widefield Array, observed on 2010 March 27. Our observations span the instantaneous frequency band 170.9–201.6 MHz. Though our observing period is characterized as a period of “low” to “medium” activity, one broadband emission feature and numerous short-lived, narrowband, non-thermal emission features are evident.
Our data represent a significant advance in low radio frequency solar imaging, enabling us to follow the spatial, spectral, and temporal evolution of events simultaneously and in unprecedented detail. The rich variety of features seen here reaffirms the coronal diagnostic capability of low radio frequency emission and provides an early glimpse
of the nature of radio observations that will become available as the next generation of low-frequency radio interferometers come online over the next few years