A broad-band flux scale for low-frequency radio telescopes

By Anna M. M. Scaife, G. Heald. 2012

188 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We present parametrized broad-band spectral models valid at frequencies between 30 and 300 MHz for six bright radio sources selected from the 3C survey, spread in right ascension from 0 to 24 h. For each source, data from the literature are compiled and tied to a common flux density scale. These data are then used to parametrize an analytic polynomial spectral calibration model. The optimal polynomial order in each case is determined using the ratio of the Bayesian evidence for the candidate models. Maximum likelihood parameter values for each model are presented, with associated errors, and the percentage error in each model as a function of frequency is derived. These spectral models are intended as an initial reference for science from the new generation of low-frequency telescopes now coming online, with particular emphasis on the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR).

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b77a71ae7ac9ef21adbfb69fa85c50ec28664a2a

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Citations in the corpus

MEASUREMENT OF 21 cm BRIGHTNESS FLUCTUATIONS AT z ∼ 0.8 IN CROSS-CORRELATION (2012, background): “Our absolute calibration uncertainty is dominated by the calibration of the reference flux scale (5%, Kellermann et al. (1969)), measurements of the calibration sources with respect to this reference (5%, see also Scaife and Heald (2012)), and uncertainty of our measurement of these fluxes (5%).”
GaLactic and Extragalactic All-sky Murchison Widefield Array (GLEAM) survey - I. A low-frequency extragalactic catalogue (2016, methodology): “This 3% difference is within the range expected since GLEAM and TGSS-ADR1 are on different flux density scales, with TGSS-ARD1 on the scale of Scaife & Heald (2012), which is a flux density scale bootstrapped from the RCB flux density scale.”
Upper Limits on the 21 cm Epoch of Reionization Power Spectrum from One Night with LOFAR (2017, methodology): “Following calibration against 3C295 (Scaife & Heald 2012) we find the source to show a spectrally broad peak at 7.2 Jy in the range from 120–160 MHz.”
LOFAR FACET CALIBRATION (2016, methodology): “For the point source model of 3C147 we used the flux-scale of Scaife & Heald (2012), giving a flux density of 66.7 Jy at 150 MHz.”
The GMRT 150 MHz all-sky radio survey - First alternative data release TGSS ADR1 (2016, methodology): “…the accuracy of the primary beam model, we measured in the relevant pointing images the apparent flux densities of primary calibrators 3C 48, 3C 147, 3C 196, 3C 286, 3C 295, and 3C 380, and divided these by the model flux densities as given in Scaife & Heald (2012) to obtain beam attenuations.”
The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey. I. Survey description and preliminary data release (2016, methodology): “The model used for the calibration of 3C 295 uses the ﬂux density scale provided by Scaife & Heald (2012) with the ﬂux density split equally between two point source components separated by 4 (cid:48)(cid:48) .”