Exploring the Last Electromagnetic Frontier with the Long Wavelength Array (LWA)

Details Exploring the Last Electromagnetic Frontier with the Long Wavelength Array (LWA) Exploring the Last Electromagnetic Frontier with the Long Wavelength Array (LWA)

Aug 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006iaujd..12e..56k&link_type=abstract

Long Wavelength Astrophysics, 26th meeting of the IAU, Joint Discussion 12, 21 August 2006, Prague, Czech Republic, JD12, #56

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Scientific paper

Several decades ago, instruments such as the Very Large Array (VLA) and the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) first opened the 1-20 GHz radio sky to detailed study. Today, a path-finding VLA 74 MHz system is providing the first sub-arcminute resolution view of the radio universe below 100 MHz, a technical innovation inspiring an emerging suite of large (> 100 km), much more powerful long-wavelength instruments including the Long Wavelength Array (LWA) and the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR). Similar in philosophy to the VLA and also located in New Mexico, the LWA will be a versatile, user-oriented electronic array poised to open the 20--80 MHz frequency range to detailed exploration for the first time. With a collecting area of one million square meters, the LWA will be a square kilometer telescope whose milli-Jansky sensitivity and near-arcsecond resolution will surpass, by 2--3 orders of magnitude, the imaging power of previous interferometers in its frequency range. LWA scientific frontiers include (1) the high-z universe, including distant radio galaxies and clusters - tools for understanding the earliest black holes and the cosmological evolution of Dark Matter and Dark Energy, respectively; (2) acceleration, propagation, and turbulence in the ISM, including the space-distribution and spectrum of Galactic cosmic rays and supernova remnants; (3) planetary, solar, and space science, including space-weather prediction and extra-solar planet searches; and (4) the radio transient universe including GRBs, ultra-high energy cosmic rays, and new sources of unknown origin. Because the LWA will explore one of the most poorly investigated spectral regions the potential for new discoveries is high, and there is a strong synergy with exciting new X-ray and Gamma-ray measurements, e.g. for cosmic ray acceleration, transients, and galaxy clusters. The LWA will also provide an unparalleled measure of small-scale ionospheric structure, a pre-requisite for accurate calibration and imaging. Basic research in radio astronomy at the Naval Research Laboratory is supported by the Office of Naval Research.

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