THE ALLEN TELESCOPE ARRAY TWENTY-CENTIMETER SURVEY-A 690 DEG(2), 12 EPOCH RADIO DATA SET. I. CATALOG AND LONG-DURATION TRANSIENT STATISTICS
Journal article, 2010
We present the Allen Telescope Array Twenty-centimeter Survey (ATATS), a multi-epoch (12 visits), 690 deg(2) radio image and catalog at 1.4 GHz. The survey is designed to detect rare, very bright transients as well as to verify the capabilities of the ATA to form large mosaics. The combined image using data from all 12 ATATS epochs has rms noise sigma = 3.94 mJy beam(-1) and dynamic range 180, with a circular beam of 150 '' FWHM. It contains 4408 sources to a limiting sensitivity of 5 sigma = 20 mJy beam(-1). We compare the catalog generated from this 12 epoch combined image to the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS), a legacy survey at the same frequency, and find that we can measure source positions to better than similar to 20 ''. For sources above the ATATS completeness limit, the median flux density is 97% of the median value for matched NVSS sources, indicative of an accurate overall flux calibration. We examine the effects of source confusion due to the effects of differing resolution between ATATS and NVSS on our ability to compare flux densities. We detect no transients at flux densities greater than 40 mJy in comparison with NVSS and place a 2 sigma upper limit of 0.004 deg(-2) on the transient rate for such sources. These results suggest that the greater than or similar to 1 Jy transients reported by Matsumara et al. may not be true transients, but rather variable sources at their flux density threshold.
surveys
discovery
radio continuum: galaxies
galaxy
variability
millimeter
bursts
observational evidence
wide-field survey
jet
catalogs
emission
neutron-stars
Author
S. Croft
University of California
G. C. Bower
University of California
R. Ackermann
SETI Institute
S. Atkinson
SETI Institute
D. Backer
University of California
P. Backus
SETI Institute
W. Barott
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
A. Bauermeister
University of California
L. Blitz
University of California
D. Bock
University of California
T. Bradford
SETI Institute
C. Cheng
University of California
C. Cork
Minex Engineering
M. Davis
SETI Institute
D. DeBoer
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
M. Dexter
University of California
J. Dreher
SETI Institute
G. Engargiola
University of California
E. Fields
University of California
M. Fleming
Minex Engineering
J. Forster
University of California
C. Gutierrez-Kraybill
University of California
G. R. Harp
SETI Institute
T. Helfer
University of California
C. Hull
University of California
J. Jordan
SETI Institute
S. Jorgensen
University of California
G. Keating
University of California
T. Kilsdonk
SETI Institute
C. Law
University of California
J. van Leeuwen
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
J. Lugten
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
D. MacMahon
University of California
P. McMahon
Stanford University
O. Milgrome
University of California
T. Pierson
SETI Institute
K. Randall
SETI Institute
J. Ross
SETI Institute
S. Shostak
SETI Institute
A. Siemion
University of California
K. Smolek
SETI Institute
J. Tarter
SETI Institute
D. Thornton
University of California
L. Urry
University of California
A. Vitouchkine
Minex Engineering
Niklas Wadefalk
Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Microwave Electronics
J. Welch
University of California
D. Werthimer
University of California
D. Whysong
University of California
P. K. G. Williams
University of California
M. Wright
University of California
Astrophysical Journal
0004-637X (ISSN) 1538-4357 (eISSN)
Vol. 719 1 45-58Subject Categories
Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering
DOI
10.1088/0004-637X/719/1/45