We present techniques developed to calibrate and correct Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) low frequency (72-300 MHz) radio observations for polarimetry. The extremely wide field-of-view, excellent instantaneous (u, v)-coverage and sensitivity to degree-scale structure that the MWA provides enable instrumental calibration, removal of instrumental artefacts, and correction for ionospheric Faraday rotation through imaging techniques. With the demonstrated polarimetric capabilities of the MWA, we discuss future directions for polarimetric science at low frequencies to answer outstanding questions relating to polarised source counts, source depolarisation, pulsar science, low-mass stars, exoplanets, the nature of the interstellar and intergalactic media, and the solar environment.
@article{arxiv.1708.05799,
title = {The challenges of low-frequency radio polarimetry: lessons from the Murchison Widefield Array},
author = {Emil Lenc and C. S. Anderson and N. Barry and J. D. Bowman and I. H. Cairns and J. S. Farnes and B. M. Gaensler and G. Heald and M. Johnston-Hollitt and D. L. Kaplan and C. R. Lynch and P. I. McCauley and D. A. Mitchell and J. Morgan and M. F. Morales and T. Murphy and A. R. Offringa and S. M. Ord and B. Pindor and C. Riseley and E. M. Sadler and C. Sobey and M. Sokolowski and I. S. Sullivan and S. P. O'Sullivan and X. H. Sun and S. E. Tremblay and C. M. Trott and R. B. Wayth},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1708.05799},
year = {2017}
}
Comments
18 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in PASA