EVLA Project Status and First Science Capabilities

Details EVLA Project Status and First Science Capabilities EVLA Project Status and First Science Capabilities

Jun 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006aas...208.5501u&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society Meeting 208, #55.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.135

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

6

Scientific paper

The Very Large Array (VLA) is being replaced by a new telescope, the Expanded VLA (EVLA), which will have an order-of-magnitude increase in sensitivity, enormously improved spectral capability, and complete frequency coverage from 1 to 50 GHz. The EVLA uses the VLA antennas and infrastructure, with new feeds, receivers, and electronics, as well as a wideband fiber-optic data transmission system. The EVLA will be substantially easier to use for scientists who are not expert in the techniques of radio astronomy. Although the new EVLA correlator will not be ready for several years, the retrofitted antennas will be capable of observations at frequencies that have not been possible previously. For example, by the end of 2007, 6.7 GHz methanol sources will be observable using 7-9 antennas outfitted for the 4-8 GHz band. A similar number of antennas will have a new frequency band spanning the range from 27 to 40 GHz. In addition, 12 antennas will have 22 GHz receivers with wider frequency coverage, and could reach water megamasers at redshifts up to z=0.2. The numbers of antennas with these new capabilities will continue to increase at a rate of five or more antennas per year.In 2009, a subset of the final EVLA correlator will be available, enabling gains in continuum sensitivity and spectral flexibility. By the end of 2010, most or all of the antennas should be outfitted, and the correlator will be fully operational; the last remaining frequency bands will be completed in 2012. At that point, the complementary EVLA and ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array) will provide nearly complete frequency coverage and sensitive sub-arcsecond imaging capabilities from 1 GHz to nearly 1 THz.The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

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