LOFAR/H-ATLAS: a deep low-frequency survey of the Herschel-ATLAS North Galactic Pole field
Journal article, 2016
We present Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) High-Band Array observations of the Herschel-ATLAS North Galactic Pole survey area. The survey we have carried out, consisting of four pointings covering around 142 deg(2) of sky in the frequency range 126-173 MHz, does not provide uniform noise coverage but otherwise is representative of the quality of data to be expected in the planned LOFAR wide-area surveys, and has been reduced using recently developed 'facet calibration' methods at a resolution approaching the full resolution of the data sets (similar to 10 x 6 arcsec) and an rms off-source noise that ranges from 100 mu Jy beam(-1) in the centre of the best fields to around 2 mJy beam(-1) at the furthest extent of our imaging. We describe the imaging, cataloguing and source identification processes, and present some initial science results based on a 5 sigma source catalogue. These include (i) an initial look at the radio/far-infrared correlation at 150 MHz, showing that many Herschel sources are not yet detected by LOFAR; (ii) number counts at 150 MHz, including, for the first time, observational constraints on the numbers of star-forming galaxies; (iii) the 150-MHz luminosity functions for active and star-forming galaxies, which agree well with determinations at higher frequencies at low redshift, and show strong redshift evolution of the star-forming population; and (iv) some discussion of the implications of our observations for studies of radio galaxy life cycles.
function
galaxies
star-formation history
sky survey
galaxies
active
luminosity
infrared
sdss-iii
demonstration phase
radio continuum
infrared-radio correlation
science
wide-field
less-than 1.0
galaxies
mass-selected galaxies
forming galaxies
Author
M. J. Hardcastle
University of Hertfordshire
G. Gurkan
University of Hertfordshire
R. J. van Weeren
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
W. L. Williams
University of Hertfordshire
P. N. Best
Royal Observatory
F. De Gasperin
Leiden University
D. Rafferty
University of Hamburg
S. C. Read
University of Hertfordshire
J. Sabater
Royal Observatory
T. W. Shimwell
Leiden University
D. J. B. Smith
University of Hertfordshire
C. Tasse
Paris Diderot University
N. Bourne
Royal Observatory
M. Brienza
University of Groningen
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
M. Brüggen
University of Hamburg
G. Brunetti
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
K.T. Chyz̊y
Jagiellonian University in Kraków
John Conway
Chalmers, Earth and Space Sciences, Onsala Space Observatory
L. Dunne
Cardiff University
Royal Observatory
S. Eales
Jagiellonian University in Kraków
S. J. Maddox
Royal Observatory
Cardiff University
M. J. Jarvis
University of Oxford
University of the Western Cape
E. Mahony
ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO)
The University of Sydney
R. Morganti
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
University of Groningen
I. Prandoni
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
H. Rottgering
Leiden University
E. Valiante
Cardiff University
G. J. White
Open University
STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
0035-8711 (ISSN) 1365-2966 (eISSN)
Vol. 462 2 1910-1936Subject Categories
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Infrastructure
Onsala Space Observatory
DOI
10.1093/mnras/stw1763