The Allen Telescope Array Pi GHz Sky Survey I. Survey Description and Static Catalog Results for the Bootes Field

📝 Abstract

The Pi GHz Sky Survey (PiGSS) is a key project of the Allen Telescope Array. PiGSS is a 3.1 GHz survey of radio continuum emission in the extragalactic sky with an emphasis on synoptic observations that measure the static and time-variable properties of the sky. During the 2.5-year campaign, PiGSS will twice observe ~250,000 radio sources in the 10,000 deg^2 region of the sky with b > 30 deg to an rms sensitivity of ~1 mJy. Additionally, sub-regions of the sky will be observed multiple times to characterize variability on time scales of days to years. We present here observations of a 10 deg^2 region in the Bootes constellation overlapping the NOAO Deep Wide Field Survey field. The PiGSS image was constructed from 75 daily observations distributed over a 4-month period and has an rms flux density between 200 and 250 microJy. This represents a deeper image by a factor of 4 to 8 than we will achieve over the entire 10,000 deg^2. We provide flux densities, source sizes, and spectral indices for the 425 sources detected in the image. We identify ~100$ new flat spectrum radio sources; we project that when completed PiGSS will identify 10^4 flat spectrum sources. We identify one source that is a possible transient radio source. This survey provides new limits on faint radio transients and variables with characteristic durations of months.

💡 Analysis

The Pi GHz Sky Survey (PiGSS) is a key project of the Allen Telescope Array. PiGSS is a 3.1 GHz survey of radio continuum emission in the extragalactic sky with an emphasis on synoptic observations that measure the static and time-variable properties of the sky. During the 2.5-year campaign, PiGSS will twice observe ~250,000 radio sources in the 10,000 deg^2 region of the sky with b > 30 deg to an rms sensitivity of ~1 mJy. Additionally, sub-regions of the sky will be observed multiple times to characterize variability on time scales of days to years. We present here observations of a 10 deg^2 region in the Bootes constellation overlapping the NOAO Deep Wide Field Survey field. The PiGSS image was constructed from 75 daily observations distributed over a 4-month period and has an rms flux density between 200 and 250 microJy. This represents a deeper image by a factor of 4 to 8 than we will achieve over the entire 10,000 deg^2. We provide flux densities, source sizes, and spectral indices for the 425 sources detected in the image. We identify ~100$ new flat spectrum radio sources; we project that when completed PiGSS will identify 10^4 flat spectrum sources. We identify one source that is a possible transient radio source. This survey provides new limits on faint radio transients and variables with characteristic durations of months.

📄 Content

arXiv:1009.4443v2 [astro-ph.HE] 27 Sep 2010 The Allen Telescope Array Pi GHz Sky Survey I. Survey Description and Static Catalog Results for the Bo¨otes Field Geoffrey C. Bower1, Steve Croft1, Garrett Keating1, David Whysong1, Rob Ackermann2, Shannon Atkinson2, Don Backer1, Peter Backus2, Billy Barott3, Amber Bauermeister1, Leo Blitz1, Douglas Bock1, Tucker Bradford2, Calvin Cheng1, Chris Cork4, Mike Davis2, Dave DeBoer5, Matt Dexter1, John Dreher2, Greg Engargiola1, Ed Fields1, Matt Fleming4, R. James Forster1, Colby Gutierrez-Kraybill1, G.R. Harp2, Carl Heiles1, Tamara Helfer1, Chat Hull1, Jane Jordan2, Susanne Jorgensen1, Tom Kilsdonk2, Casey Law1, Joeri van Leeuwen6, John Lugten7, Dave MacMahon1, Peter McMahon8, Oren Milgrome1, Tom Pierson2, Karen Randall2, John Ross2, Seth Shostak2, Andrew Siemion1, Ken Smolek2, Jill Tarter2, Douglas Thornton1, Lynn Urry1, Artyom Vitouchkine4, Niklas Wadefalk9, Sandy Weinreb, Jack Welch1, Dan Werthimer1, Peter K.G. Williams1, and Melvyn Wright1 ABSTRACT The Pi GHz Sky Survey (PiGSS) is a key project of the Allen Telescope Array. PiGSS is a 3.1 GHz survey of radio continuum emission in the extragalactic sky with an emphasis on synoptic observations that measure the static and time- variable properties of the sky. During the 2.5-year campaign, PiGSS will twice observe ∼250, 000 radio sources in the 10,000 deg2 region of the sky with b > 30◦ to an rms sensitivity of ∼1 mJy. Additionally, sub-regions of the sky will be 1University of California, Berkeley, 601 Campbell Hall #3411, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; gbower@astro.berkeley.edu 2SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA 3Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Electrical and Systems Engineering Department, Daytona Beach, FL 32114, USA 4Minex Engineering, Antioch, CA 94509, USA 5CSIRO/ATNF, Epping, NSW 1710, Australia 6ASTRON, 7990 AA Dwingeloo, The Netherlands 7Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA 8Electrical Engineering Department, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA 9Chalmers University of Technology, Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience - MC2, SE-412 96 G¨oteborg, Sweden 10California Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA – 2 – observed multiple times to characterize variability on time scales of days to years. We present here observations of a 10 deg2 region in the Bo¨otes constellation overlapping the NOAO Deep Wide Field Survey field. The PiGSS image was constructed from 75 daily observations distributed over a 4-month period and has an rms flux density between 200 and 250 µJy. This represents a deeper image by a factor of 4 to 8 than we will achieve over the entire 10,000 deg2. We provide flux densities, source sizes, and spectral indices for the 425 sources detected in the image. We identify ∼100 new flat spectrum radio sources; we project that when completed PiGSS will identify 104 flat spectrum sources. We identify one source that is a possible transient radio source. This survey provides new limits on faint radio transients and variables with characteristic durations of months. Subject headings: radio continuum: general — radio continuum: stars — radio continuum: galaxies — surveys 1. Introduction Synoptic surveys are increasingly important probes of the sky at all wavelengths. These surveys provide the opportunity to simultaneously probe the static and variable compo- nents of the Universe through multiple observations of the sky. Complete static catalogs such as that of the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (Condon et al. 1998), the VLA FIRST Survey (Becker et al. 1995), the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (Abazajian et al. 2003), and the ROSAT All Sky Survey (Voges et al. 1999) are essential to creating a complete picture of the astro- physics of a wide range of objects. These extant surveys predominantly emphasized a single static image of the sky. The next generation of large-scale surveys at all wavelengths have variability and the time domain as an essential aspect. These surveys include at optical wavelengths the SDSS stripe 82 survey (Sesar et al. 2007), the Palomar Transient Factory (Rau et al. 2009; Law et al. 2009), Pan-STARRS, the LSST surveys, and at gamma-ray wavelengths the Fermi LAT catalog (Abdo et al. 2010). At radio wavelengths, time domain surveys have a venerable history including the dis- covery of pulsars (Hewish et al. 1969) but are undergoing a significant renaissance. In par- ticular, single dish surveys with sensitivity to short timescale transients (< ∼1 second) have uncovered a wide range of neutron star phenomena, including single pulses detected from rotating radio transients (McLaughlin et al. 2006). These discoveries have spawned several new surveys (Siemion et al. 2008). Future versions of single-pulse surveys are proposed for several next generation instruments such as ASKAP, LOFAR, MEERKAT, and the Square – 3 – Kilometer Array (Macquart et al. 2010; Hessels et al. 2009). The enormous data volumes of these

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