The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey

Shimwell, T.W.; Hardcastle, M.J.; Tasse, C.; Best, P.N.; Röttgering, H.J.A.; Williams, W.L.; Botteon, A.; Drabent, A.; Mechev, A.; Shulevski, A.; van Weeren, R.J.; Bester, L.; Brüggen, M.; Brunetti, G.; Callingham, J.R.; Chyży, K.T.; Conway, J.E.; Dijkema, T.J.; Duncan, K.; de Gasperin, F.; Hale, C.L.; Haverkorn, M.; Hugo, B.; Jackson, N.; Mevius, M.; Miley, G.K.; Morabito, L.K.; Morganti, R.; Offringa, A.; Oonk, J.B.R.; Rafferty, D.; Sabater, J.; Smith, D.J.B.; Schwarz, D.J.; Smirnov, O.; O’Sullivan, S.P.; Vedantham, H.; White, G.J.; Albert, J.G.; Alegre, L.; Asabere, B.; Bacon, D.J.; Bonafede, A.; Bonnassieux, E.; Brienza, M.; Bilicki, M.; Bonato, M.; Calistro Rivera, G.; Cassano, R.; Cochrane, R.; Croston, J.H.; Cuciti, V.; Dallacasa, D.; Danezi, A.; Dettmar, R.J.; Di Gennaro, G.; Edler, H.W.; Enßlin, T.A.; Emig, K.L.; Franzen, T.M.O.; García-Vergara, C.; Grange, Y.G.; Gürkan, G.; Hajduk, M.; Heald, G.; Heesen, V.; Hoang, D.N.; Hoeft, M.; Horellou, C.; Iacobelli, M.; Jamrozy, M.; Jelić, V.; Kondapally, R.; Kukreti, P.; Kunert-Bajraszewska, M.; Magliocchetti, M.; Mahatma, V.; Małek, K.; Mandal, S.; Massaro, F.; Meyer-Zhao, Z.; Mingo, B.; Mostert, R.I.J.; Nair, D.G.; Nakoneczny, S.J.; Nikiel-Wroczyński, B.; Orrú, E.; Pajdosz-Śmierciak, U.; Pasini, T.; Prandoni, I.; van Piggelen, H.E.; Rajpurohit, K.; Retana-Montenegro, E.; Riseley, C.J.; Rowlinson, A.; Saxena, A.; Schrijvers, C.; Sweijen, F.; Siewert, T.M.; Timmerman, R.; Vaccari, M.; Vink, J.; West, J.L.; Wołowska, A.; Zhang, X.; Zheng, J.

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202142484

The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey

Shimwell, T.W.; Hardcastle, M.J.; Tasse, C.; Best, P.N.; Röttgering, H.J.A.; Williams, W.L.; Botteon, A.; Drabent, A.; Mechev, A.; Shulevski, A.; van Weeren, R.J.; Bester, L.; Brüggen, M.; Brunetti, G.; Callingham, J.R.; Chyży, K.T.; Conway, J.E.; Dijkema, T.J.; Duncan, K.; de Gasperin, F.; Hale, C.L.; Haverkorn, M.; Hugo, B.; Jackson, N.; Mevius, M.; Miley, G.K.; Morabito, L.K.; Morganti, R.; Offringa, A.; Oonk, J.B.R.; Rafferty, D.; Sabater, J.; Smith, D.J.B.; Schwarz, D.J.; Smirnov, O.; O’Sullivan, S.P.; Vedantham, H.; White, G.J.; Albert, J.G.; Alegre, L.; Asabere, B.; Bacon, D.J.; Bonafede, A.; Bonnassieux, E.; Brienza, M.; Bilicki, M.; Bonato, M.; Calistro Rivera, G.; Cassano, R.; Cochrane, R.; Croston, J.H.; Cuciti, V.; Dallacasa, D.; Danezi, A.; Dettmar, R.J.; Di Gennaro, G.; Edler, H.W.; Enßlin, T.A.; Emig, K.L.; Franzen, T.M.O.; García-Vergara, C.; Grange, Y.G.; Gürkan, G.; Hajduk, M.; Heald, G.; Heesen, V.; Hoang, D.N.; Hoeft, M.; Horellou, C.; Iacobelli, M.; Jamrozy, M.; Je...

Authors

T.W. Shimwell

M.J. Hardcastle

C. Tasse

P.N. Best

H.J.A. Röttgering

W.L. Williams

A. Botteon

A. Drabent

A. Mechev

A. Shulevski

R.J. van Weeren

L. Bester

M. Brüggen

G. Brunetti

J.R. Callingham

K.T. Chyży

J.E. Conway

T.J. Dijkema

K. Duncan

F. de Gasperin

C.L. Hale

M. Haverkorn

B. Hugo

N. Jackson

M. Mevius

G.K. Miley

Dr Leah Morabito leah.k.morabito@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

R. Morganti

A. Offringa

J.B.R. Oonk

D. Rafferty

J. Sabater

D.J.B. Smith

D.J. Schwarz

O. Smirnov

S.P. O’Sullivan

H. Vedantham

G.J. White

J.G. Albert

L. Alegre

B. Asabere

D.J. Bacon

A. Bonafede

E. Bonnassieux

M. Brienza

M. Bilicki

M. Bonato

G. Calistro Rivera

R. Cassano

R. Cochrane

J.H. Croston

V. Cuciti

D. Dallacasa

A. Danezi

R.J. Dettmar

G. Di Gennaro

H.W. Edler

T.A. Enßlin

K.L. Emig

T.M.O. Franzen

C. García-Vergara

Y.G. Grange

G. Gürkan

M. Hajduk

G. Heald

V. Heesen

D.N. Hoang

M. Hoeft

C. Horellou

M. Iacobelli

M. Jamrozy

V. Jelić

R. Kondapally

P. Kukreti

M. Kunert-Bajraszewska

M. Magliocchetti

V. Mahatma

K. Małek

S. Mandal

F. Massaro

Z. Meyer-Zhao

B. Mingo

R.I.J. Mostert

D.G. Nair

S.J. Nakoneczny

B. Nikiel-Wroczyński

E. Orrú

U. Pajdosz-Śmierciak

T. Pasini

I. Prandoni

H.E. van Piggelen

K. Rajpurohit

E. Retana-Montenegro

C.J. Riseley

A. Rowlinson

A. Saxena

C. Schrijvers

F. Sweijen

T.M. Siewert

R. Timmerman

M. Vaccari

J. Vink

J.L. West

A. Wołowska

X. Zhang

J. Zheng

Abstract

In this data release from the ongoing LOw-Frequency ARray (LOFAR) Two-metre Sky Survey we present 120–168 MHz images covering 27% of the northern sky. Our coverage is split into two regions centred at approximately 12h45m +44◦300 and 1h00m +28◦000 and spanning 4178 and 1457 square degrees respectively. The images were derived from 3451 h (7.6 PB) of LOFAR High Band Antenna data which were corrected for the direction-independent instrumental properties as well as direction-dependent ionospheric distortions during extensive, but fully automated, data processing. A catalogue of 4 396 228 radio sources is derived from our total intensity (Stokes I) maps, where the majority of these have never been detected at radio wavelengths before. At 600 resolution, our full bandwidth Stokes I continuum maps with a central frequency of 144 MHz have: a median rms sensitivity of 83 µJy beam−1 ; a flux density scale accuracy of approximately 10%; an astrometric accuracy of 0.200; and we estimate the point-source completeness to be 90% at a peak brightness of 0.8 mJy beam−1 . By creating three 16 MHz bandwidth images across the band we are able to measure the in-band spectral index of many sources, albeit with an error on the derived spectral index of >±0.2 which is a consequence of our flux-density scale accuracy and small fractional bandwidth. Our circular polarisation (Stokes V) 2000 resolution 120–168 MHz continuum images have a median rms sensitivity of 95 µJy beam−1 , and we estimate a Stokes I to Stokes V leakage of 0.056%. Our linear polarisation (Stokes Q and Stokes U) image cubes consist of 480 × 97.6 kHz wide planes and have a median rms sensitivity per plane of 10.8 mJy beam−1 at 40 and 2.2 mJy beam−1 at 2000; we estimate the Stokes I to Stokes Q/U leakage to be approximately 0.2%. Here we characterise and publicly release our Stokes I, Q, U and V images in addition to the calibrated uv-data to facilitate the thorough scientific exploitation of this unique dataset.

Citation

Shimwell, T., Hardcastle, M., Tasse, C., Best, P., Röttgering, H., Williams, W., …Zheng, J. (2022). The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 659, Article A1. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202142484

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Dec 23, 2021
Online Publication Date	Feb 25, 2022
Publication Date	2022-03
Deposit Date	Jun 13, 2022
Publicly Available Date	Jun 14, 2022
Journal	Astronomy & Astrophysics
Print ISSN	0004-6361
Electronic ISSN	1432-0746
Publisher	EDP Sciences
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	659
Article Number	A1
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202142484