Microarcsecond astrometry using the SKA

The sensitivity and versatility of SKA will provide microarcsec astrometric precision and high quality milliarcsec-resolution images by simultaneously detecting calibrator sources near the target source. To reach these goals, we suggest that the long-baseline component of SKA contains at least 25% of the total collecting area in a region between 1000 and 5000 km from the core SKA. We also suggest a minimum of 60 elements in the long-baseline component of SKA to provide the necessary (u–v) coverage. For simultaneous all-sky observations, which provide absolute astrometric and geodetic parameters, we suggest using 10 independent subarrays each composed of at least six long-baseline elements correlated with the core SKA. We discuss many anticipated SKA long-baseline astrometric experiments: determination of distance, proper motion and orbital motion of thousands of stellar objects; planetary motion detections; mass determination of degenerate stars using their kinetics; calibration of the universal distance scale from 10 to 10⁷ pc; the core and inner-jet interactions of AGN. With an increase by a factor of 10 in absolute astrometric accuracy using simultaneous all sky observations, the fundamental quasar reference frame can be defined to <10 μas and tied to the solar-system dynamic frame to this accuracy. Parameters associated with the earth rotation and orientation, nutation, and geophysical parameters, can be accurately monitored. Tests of fundamental physics include: solar and Jovian deflection experiments, the sky frame accuracy needed to interpret the gravity wave/pulsar-timing experiment, accurate monitoring of spacecraft orbits that impact solar system dynamics.     

Star formation, massive stars, and super star clusters in nearby galaxies

The Square Kilometer Array (SKA) will enable studies of star formation in nearby galaxies with a level of detail never before possible outside of the Milky Way. Because the earliest stages of stellar evolution are often inaccessible at optical and near-infrared wavelengths, high spatial resolution radio observations are necessary to explore extragalactic star formation. The SKA will have the sensitivity to detect individual ultracompact HII regions out to the distance of nearly 50 Mpc, allowing us to study their spatial distributions, morphologies, and populations statistics in a wide range of environments. Radio observations of Wolf-Rayet stars outside of the Milky Way will also be possible for the first time, greatly expanding the range of conditions in which their mass loss rates can be determined from free-free emission. On a vastly larger scale, natal of super star clusters will be accessible to the SKA out to redshifts of nearly z 0.1. The unprecedented sensitivity of radio observations with the SKA will also place tight constraints on the star formation rates as low as 1M yr⁻¹ in galaxies out to a redshift of z 1 by directly measuring the thermal radio flux density without assumptions about a galaxy’s magnetic field strength, cosmic ray production rate, or extinction.     

On post-SKA radio astronomy

It is suggested that the development of the SKA will drastically change the face of radio astronomy in the 21st Century. A FAST-style SKA would admit observations of low contrast features, and would be the best design for studying the `dark ages' of the Universe (x≫ 1) where sub-arcmin total power instruments can usefully be employed. To date there have been no proposals for post-SKA, billion square-metra instruments; we speculate that mobile communication systems can be used. In the very distant future, SKA multi-beam systems could be used to collect signals reflected by Solar system bodies such as the asteroid belt. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The accretion history of the universe with the SKA

In this paper, we investigate how the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) can aid in determining the evolutionary history of active galactic nuclei (AGN) from redshifts z = 0 → 6. Given the vast collecting area of the SKA, it will be sensitive to both ‘radio-loud’ AGN and the much more abundant ‘radio-quiet’ AGN, namely the radio-quiet quasars and their ‘Type-II’ counterparts, out to the highest redshifts. Not only will the SKA detect these sources but it will also often be able to measure their redshifts via the Hydrogen 21-cm line in emission and/or absorption. We construct a complete radio luminosity function (RLF) for AGN, combining the most recent determinations for powerful radio sources with an estimate of the RLF for radio-quiet objects using the hard X-ray luminosity function of [ApJ 598 (2003) 886], including both Type-I and Type-II AGN. We use this complete RLF to determine the optimal design of the SKA for investigating the accretion history of the Universe for which it is likely to be a uniquely powerful instrument.     

A Simple Model Of Software Costs For The Square Kilometre Array

Software costs for radio telescopes have nearly always been underestimated. Since the Square Kilometre Array is often called a software telescope, repeating the usual error would be particularly egregious. We estimate software costs by scaling from the reasonably well-known costs for the Atacama Large Millimeter Array. The resulting model has sharp dependency on the complexity of the SKA, suggesting the obvious – that software costs can most easily be limited by constraining the scientific and operational requirements. A bottom-up costing will not be possible until SKA is much more clearly defined. For the moment, we recommend that 20% of the SKA budget be allocated to software development.     

Galaxy evolution, cosmology and dark energy with the Square Kilometer Array

The present-day Universe is seemingly dominated by dark energy and dark matter, but mapping the normal (baryonic) content remains vital for both astrophysics – understanding how galaxies form – and astro-particle physics – inferring properties of the dark components.The Square Kilometer Array (SKA) will provide the only means of studying the cosmic evolution of neutral hydrogen (HI) which, alongside information on star formation from the radio continuum, is needed to understand how stars formed from gas within dark-matter over-densities and the rôles of gas accretion and galaxy merging.‘All hemisphere’ HI redshift surveys to z 1.5 are feasible with wide-field-of-view realizations of the SKA and, by measuring the galaxy power spectrum in exquisite detail, will allow the first precise studies of the equation-of-state of dark energy. The SKA will be capable of other uniquely powerful cosmological studies including the measurement of the dark-matter power spectrum using weak gravitational lensing, and the precise measurement of H₀ using extragalactic water masers.The SKA is likely to become the premier dark-energy-measuring machine, bringing breakthroughs in cosmology beyond those likely to be made possible by combining CMB (e.g. Planck), optical (e.g. LSST, SNAP) and other early-21st-century datasets.     

Experiments on the dish verification antenna china for the SKA

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is expected to become the world’s most powerful radio telescope at meter and centimeter wavelength in the coming decades. The construction of SKA will be divided into two phases. The first phase (SKA1), scheduled for completion in 2023, will construct 10 % of the whole collecting area. The second phase (SKA2) will build the rest 90 % collecting area. The SKA1 consists of several types of arrays including SKA1-low and SKA1-mid. The latter is a dish array consisting of ~200 medium-size antennas. The integrated dish array in SKA2 will expand to 2500 dishes, spreading 3000 kilometers across the southern part of Africa. The demanding specifications and enormous number of the SKA dish raise challenges in the dish development such as mass production with high performance at low cost, quick installation and high reliability. Dish Verification Antenna China (DVA-C) was built as one of three initial prototypes. A novel single-piece panel reflector made of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) was adopted. In this study, an L-band receiver is installed to make DVA-C a complete system for experiments on antenna performance test and preliminary observations. The performance of DVA-C including the system noise temperature, pointing accuracy, antenna pattern, and aperture efficiency has been tested. Preliminary observations such as pulsars and HI are then conducted, which indicates that the DVA-C can not only serve as an educational instrument and key technology test bed, but also be applied for scientific work such as pulsar timing, all-sky HI survey, multi-frequency monitoring of variable sources etc.     

From gas to galaxies

The unsurpassed sensitivity and resolution of the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) will make it possible for the first time to probe the continuum emission of normal star forming galaxies out to the edges of the universe. This opens the possibility for routinely using the radio continuum emission from galaxies for cosmological research as it offers an independent probe of the evolution of the star formation density in the universe. In addition it offers the possibility to detect the first star forming objects and massive black holes.In deep surveys SKA will be able to detect Hi in emission out to redshifts of z ≈ 2.5 and hence be able to trace the conversion of gas into stars over an era where considerable evolution is taking place. Such surveys will be able to uniquely determine the respective importance of merging and accreting gas flows for galaxy formation over this redshift range (i.e. out to when the universe was only one third its present age). It is obvious that only SKA will able to see literally where and how gas is turned into stars.These and other aspects of SKA imaging of galaxies will be discussed.     

Searching for high-redshift centimeter-wave continuum, line and maser emission using the Square Kilometer Array

We discuss the detection of redshifted line and continuum emission at radio wavelengths using a Square Kilometer Array (SKA), specifically from low-excitation rotational molecular line transitions of CO and HCN (molecular lines), the recombination radiation from atomic transitions in almost-ionized hydrogen (radio recombination lines; RRLs), OH and H₂O maser lines, as well as from synchrotron and free–free continuum radiation and HI 21-cm line radiation. The detection of radio lines with the SKA offers the prospect to determine the redshifts and thus exact luminosities for some of the most distant and optically faint star-forming galaxies and active galactic nuclei, even those galaxies that are either deeply enshrouded in interstellar dust or shining prior to the end of reionization. Moreover, it provides an opportunity to study the astrophysical conditions and resolved morphologies of the most active regions in galaxies during the most active phase of star formation at redshift z 2. A sufficiently powerful and adaptable SKA correlator will enable wide-field three-dimensional redshift surveys at chosen specific high redshifts, and will allow new probes of the evolution of large-scale structure (LSS) in the distribution of galaxies. The detection of molecular line radiation favours pushing the operating frequencies of SKA up to at least 26 GHz, and ideally to 40 GHz, while very high redshift maser emissions requires access to about 100 MHz. To search for LSS the widest possible instantaneous field of view would be advantageous.     

Analysis of sky contributions to system temperature for low frequency SKA aperture array geometries

The new generation of radio telescopes, such as the proposed Square Kilometer Array (SKA) and the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) rely heavily on the use of very large phased aperture arrays operating over wide band-widths at frequency ranges up to approximately 1.4?GHz. The SKA in particular will include aperture arrays consisting of many thousands of elements per station providing un-paralleled survey speeds. Currently two different arrays (from nominally 70?MHz to 450?MHz and from 400?MHz to 1.4?GHz) are being studied for inclusion within the overall SKA configuration. In this paper we aim to analyze the array contribution to system temperature for a number of regular and irregular planar antenna array configurations which are possible geometries for the low-frequency SKA (sparse disconnected arrays). We focus on the sub-500?MHz band where the real sky contribution to system temperature (T _sys ) is highly significant and dominants the overall system noise temperature. We compute the sky noise contribution to T _sys by simulating the far field response of a number of SKA stations and then convolve that with the sky brightness temperature distribution from the Haslam 408?MHz survey which is then scaled to observations at 100?MHz. Our analysis of array temperature is carried out by assuming observations of three cold regions above and below the Galactic plane. The results show the advantages of regular arrays when sampled at the Nyquist rate as well as their disadvantages in the form of grating lobes when under-sampled in comparison to non-regular arrays.     

SKA studies of atomic gas in the interstellar medium of the Milky Way

The λ21-cm line is an excellent tracer of the neutral interstellar medium (ISM). Atomic hydrogen (HI) is found in a variety of environments, from dense clouds to the diffuse galactic halo, and its filling factor is often high, so structures with sizes over a wide range of scales can be mapped with this line. Galactic HI surveys show small scale structure that is consistent with a spectrum of interstellar turbulence similar to what is measured in the ionized component of the ISM. But our sampling of the spectrum of this turbulence is limited to a few size ranges, based on the sensitivities of existing telescopes for emission and absorption studies. The Square Kilometer Array (SKA) will provide the sensitivity and resolution to give continuous coverage of the turbulence spectrum from hundreds of parsecs to a few tens of Astronomical Units. By showing us the full spectrum of interstellar turbulence in the neutral medium, the physical processes driving hydrodynamic and magneto-hydrodynamic instabilities will be illuminated. Ultimately the turbulence governs the passage of the gas from the warm phases of the medium to the cold phases where gravitational collapse can initiate star formation. The SKA is needed to fill in this missing link in the cycle of star formation and chemical enrichment that drives the evolution of galaxies. In the Milky Way halo, SKA mapping of HI high velocity clouds will trace the structure and motion of both the warm phase gas and the hot medium. The interaction between these two phases of halo gas is a great unsolved problem in Galactic astrophysics.     

Low Frequency End Performance of a Symmetrical Configuration Antenna for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA)

The frequency specifications of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) call for an optimum operation of the antenna elements from 25 down to 100 MHz. The current 12 m diameter US-SKA design is specified from 500 up to 25 GHz, with an upper goal of 35 GHz. At the low frequency end of the band (i.e., 100 MHz), a 12 m reflector antenna is about four wavelengths in diameter. Then, the question is: how well can you do, at this low frequency end of the specified band of operation for the SKA, with a symmetric reflector configuration using an ultra-wide-band prime focus feed? This paper presents the analysis of the antenna performance, in terms of A _eff/T _A, of three symmetric configurations of the 12 m US-SKA antenna design between 100 and 200 MHz.     

Adaptive scale model reconstruction for radio synthesis imaging

A sky model from CLEAN deconvolution is a particularly effective high dynamic range reconstruction in radio astronomy,which can effectively model the sky and remove the sidelobes of the point spread function(PSF)caused by incomplete sampling in the spatial frequency domain.Compared to scale-free and multi-scale sky models,adaptive-scale sky modeling,which can model both compact and diffuse features,has been proven to have better sky modeling capabilities in narrowband simulated data,especially for large-scale features in high-sensitivity observations which are exactly one of the challenges of data processing for the Square Kilometre Array(SKA).However,adaptive scale CLEAN algorithms have not been verified by real observation data and allow negative components in the model.In this paper,we propose an adaptive scale model algorithm with non-negative constraint and wideband imaging capacities,and it is applied to simulated SKA data and real observation data from the Karl G.Jansky Very Large Array(JVLA),an SKA precursor.Experiments show that the new algorithm can reconstruct more physical models with rich details.This work is a step forward for future SKA image reconstruction and developing SKA imaging pipelines.     

Cost Effective Frequency Ranges For Multi-Beam Dishes, Cylinders, Aperture Arrays, and Hybrids

Five out of six Square Kilometre Array (SKA) science programs need extensive surveys at frequencies below 1.4 GHz and only four need high-frequency observations. The latter ones drive to expensive high surface accuracy collecting area, while the former ask for multi-beam receiver systems and extensive post correlation processing. In this paper, we analyze the system cost of a SKA when the field-of-view (Fov) is extended from 1 deg² at 1.4 GHz to 200 deg² at 0.7 GHz for three different antenna concepts. We start our analysis by discussing the fundamental limitations and cost issues of wide-band focal plane arrays (FPA) in dishes and cylinders and of wide-band receptors in aperture arrays. We will show that a hybrid SKA in three different antenna technologies will give the highest effective sensitivity for all six key science programs.     

Observing gravitational radiation with QSO proper motions and the SKA

We discuss the ability of the SKA to observe QSO proper motions induced by long-wavelength gravitational radiation. We find that the SKA, configured for VLBI with multiple beams at high frequency (8 GHz), is sensitive to a dimensionless characteristic strain of roughly 10⁻¹³, comparable to (and with very different errors than) other methods in the 1/yr frequency band such as pulsar timing.     

Surveys of compact extragalactic radio sources

Several recent global and Space VLBI surveys of quasars, Active Galactic Nuclei of other types and star-burst galaxies provide a wealth of material on milli- and sub-milliarcsecond radio structures in hundreds of sources. Results of these projects are presented with an emphasis on the statistics of redshift- and angular-scale-dependent properties of the milli- and sub-milliarcsecond radio structures. These studies make possible disentanglement of intrinsic (possibly, evolutionary) phenomena of parsec-scale radio structures and the imprints of the cosmological model. The studies indicate a very promising potential of high-resolution applications of the Square Kilometer Array. Based on our pilot projects we estimate that a sample containing of the order of 10⁴ faint radio sources in the luminosity range 10²²–10²⁶ W/Hz can be surveyed by a high-resolution SKA with the milliarcsecond resolution at cm wavelengths. Such the high resolution radio survey, including those conducted jointly by SKA and Space VLBI missions, in conjunction with data from other domains, will provide a new ground for extragalactic studies.     

The Australian Ska New Technology Demonstrator Program

I present a brief overview of the SKA projects conducted under the Australian Major National Research Facilities program, and describe the largest of these projects – the SKA New Technology Demonstrator. The goal of this project is to construct an SKA technology demonstrator which will explore and evaluate a number of SKA technologies in a remote radio-quiet environment, while also achieving a restricted set of key science goals. Infrastructure and access to back-end facilities will also be provided for other international SKA groups who wish to evaluate or demonstrate technologies, or conduct science experiments, in a remote, radio-quiet, environment.     

The ISM in nearby galaxies

The SKA will revolutionise the study of the principles underlying star formation (SF), resolving interstellar cloud complexes which are the birthplaces of stars and answering such questions as which are the sufficient and necessary conditions for SF to commence. Also, massive SF is intimately related to stellar death. The SKA will be able to study the structure of the ISM at 100 pc resolution out to distances of up to 20 Mpc and will quantify the impact the demise of massive stars has on their environment. Importantly, the SKA will probe the transition region between ISM and IGM, linking star formation and stellar death in the disks of galaxies to faint HI structures further afield, such as “anomalous gas” and (Compact) High Velocity Clouds. Lastly, the superb sensitivity of the SKA will result in some hundred background sources per square degree against which HI absorption lines can be searched for, probing not only the relative importance of the different phases of the gas in galaxies but also the low density gas in the outskirts and between galaxies.     

Radio Astronomy Antennas by the Thousands

Large number of microwave antennas of size and surface accuracy appropriate for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) have not been manufactured previously. To minimize total cost, the design needs to be much more carefully considered and optimized than would be affordable for a small number of antennas. The required surface area requires new methods of manufacture and production-line type assembly to be considered. A blend of past antenna construction technology, creativity, and new technology is needed to provide the best possible telescope for the proposed SKA science goals. The following key concepts will be discussed with respect to reflector antennas and many supporting photographs, figures and drawings will be included.

Surface and supporting structure – comparison of panels with a one-piece shell as produced by hydroforming.

Combined reflector and mount geometry – performance/cost materially governed by this geometry which must be optimized for SKA requirements which are significantly different from typical communications antennas

Types of fully steerable mounts – king post, turntable bearing and wheel and track

Pointing accuracy – factors effecting cost, non-repeatable and repeatable errors

Axis drive concepts – traction devices, gears, screws, etc.

Life cycle costs – maintenance and power costs must be considered

Synergistic design – all of the above factors must be considered together with the wideband feed and receiver system to optimize the whole system