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LOFAR/H-ATLAS: a deep low-frequency survey of the Herschel-ATLAS North Galactic Pole field

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Complete Citation

  • Hardcastle, M. J., Gürkan, G., van Weeren, R. J., Williams, W. L., Best, P. N., de Gasperin, F., Rafferty, D. A., Read, S. C., Sabater, J., Shimwell, T. W., Smith, D. J. B., Tasse, C., Bourne, N., Brienza, M., Brüggen, M., Brunetti, G., Chyzy, K. T., Conway, J., Dunne, L., Eales, S. A., Maddox, S. J., Jarvis, M. J., Mahony, E. K., Morganti, R., Prandoni, I. et al. 2016. "LOFAR/H-ATLAS: a deep low-frequency survey of the Herschel-ATLAS North Galactic Pole field." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 462:1910-1936. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw1763

Overview

Abstract

  • 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 deg2 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 (˜10 × 6 arcsec) and an rms off-source noise that ranges from 100 µJy 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 5s 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.

Publication Date

  • 2016