127 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
Carbon Recombination Lines from the Galactic Plane at 34.5 & 328 MHz
We present results of a search for carbon recombination lines in the Galaxy
at 34.5 MHz (C) made using the dipole array at Gauribidanur near
Bangalore. Observations made towards 32 directions, led to detections of lines
in absorption at nine positions. Followup observations at 328 MHz
(C) using the Ooty Radio Telescope detected these lines in emission.
A VLA D-array observation of one of the positions at 330 MHz yielded no
detection implying a lower limit of 10' for the angular size of the line
forming region.
The longitude-velocity distribution of the observed carbon lines indicate
that the line forming region are located mainly between 4 kpc and 7 kpc from
the Galactic centre. Combining our results with published carbon recombination
line data near 76 MHz (\nocite{erickson:95} Erickson \et 1995) we obtain
constraints on the physical parameters of the line forming regions. We find
that if the angular size of the line forming regions is , then
the range of parameters that fit the data are: \Te K, \ne \cm3 and pathlengths pc which may correspond to thin
photo-dissociated regions around molecular clouds. On the other hand, if the
line forming regions are in extent, then warmer gas (\Te K) with lower electron densities (\ne \cm3) extending
over several tens of parsecs along the line of sight and possibly associated
with atomic \HI gas can fit the data. Based on the range of derived parameters,
we suggest that the carbon line regions are most likely associated with
photo-dissociation regions.Comment: To appear in Journal of Astrophysics & Astronomy, March 200
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
A new layout optimization technique for interferometric arrays, applied to the MWA
Antenna layout is an important design consideration for radio interferometers
because it determines the quality of the snapshot point spread function (PSF,
or array beam). This is particularly true for experiments targeting the 21 cm
Epoch of Reionization signal as the quality of the foreground subtraction
depends directly on the spatial dynamic range and thus the smoothness of the
baseline distribution. Nearly all sites have constraints on where antennas can
be placed---even at the remote Australian location of the MWA (Murchison
Widefield Array) there are rock outcrops, flood zones, heritages areas,
emergency runways and trees. These exclusion areas can introduce spatial
structure into the baseline distribution that enhance the PSF sidelobes and
reduce the angular dynamic range. In this paper we present a new method of
constrained antenna placement that reduces the spatial structure in the
baseline distribution. This method not only outperforms random placement
algorithms that avoid exclusion zones, but surprisingly outperforms random
placement algorithms without constraints to provide what we believe are the
smoothest constrained baseline distributions developed to date. We use our new
algorithm to determine antenna placements for the originally planned MWA, and
present the antenna locations, baseline distribution, and snapshot PSF for this
array choice.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in MNRA
WSClean : an implementation of a fast, generic wide-field imager for radio astronomy
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.Astronomical widefield imaging of interferometric radio data is computationally expensive, especially for the large data volumes created by modern non-coplanar many-element arrays. We present a new widefield interferometric imager that uses the w-stacking algorithm and can make use of the w-snapshot algorithm. The performance dependencies of CASA's w-projection and our new imager are analysed and analytical functions are derived that describe the required computing cost for both imagers. On data from the Murchison Widefield Array, we find our new method to be an order of magnitude faster than w-projection, as well as being capable of full-sky imaging at full resolution and with correct polarisation correction. We predict the computing costs for several other arrays and estimate that our imager is a factor of 2-12 faster, depending on the array configuration. We estimate the computing cost for imaging the low-frequency Square-Kilometre Array observations to be 60 PetaFLOPS with current techniques. We find that combining w-stacking with the w-snapshot algorithm does not significantly improve computing requirements over pure w-stacking. The source code of our new imager is publicly released.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio
Interferometric imaging with the 32 element Murchison Wide-field Array
The Murchison Wide-field Array (MWA) is a low frequency radio telescope,
currently under construction, intended to search for the spectral signature of
the epoch of re-ionisation (EOR) and to probe the structure of the solar
corona. Sited in Western Australia, the full MWA will comprise 8192 dipoles
grouped into 512 tiles, and be capable of imaging the sky south of 40 degree
declination, from 80 MHz to 300 MHz with an instantaneous field of view that is
tens of degrees wide and a resolution of a few arcminutes. A 32-station
prototype of the MWA has been recently commissioned and a set of observations
taken that exercise the whole acquisition and processing pipeline. We present
Stokes I, Q, and U images from two ~4 hour integrations of a field 20 degrees
wide centered on Pictoris A. These images demonstrate the capacity and
stability of a real-time calibration and imaging technique employing the
weighted addition of warped snapshots to counter extreme wide field imaging
distortions.Comment: Accepted for publication in PASP. This is the draft before journal
typesetting corrections and proofs so does contain formatting and journal
style errors, also has with lower quality figures for space requirement
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
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