First results from the Very Small Array - I. Observational methods

Watson, Robert A.; Carreira, Pedro; Cleary, Kieran; Davies, Rod D.; Davis, Richard J.; Dickinson, Clive; Grainge, Keith; Gutiérrez, C. M.; Hobson, Michael P.; Jones, Michael E.; Kneissl, Rüdiger; Lasenby, Anthony; Maisinger, Klaus; Pooley, Guy G.; Rebolo, R.; Rubiño-Martin, J. A.; Rusholme, Ben; Saunders, Richard D. E.; Savage, Richard; Scott, Paul F.; Slosar, Anže; Sosa Molina, P. J.; Taylor, Angela C.; Titterington, David; Waldram, Elizabeth; Wilkinson, Althea
Bibliographical reference

Monthly Notice of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 341, Issue 4, pp. 1057-1065.

Advertised on:
6
2003
Number of authors
26
IAC number of authors
3
Citations
83
Refereed citations
70
Description
The Very Small Array (VSA) is a synthesis telescope designed to image faint structures in the cosmic microwave background on degree and sub-degree angular scales. The VSA has key differences from other CMB interferometers with the result that different systematic errors are expected. We have tested the operation of the VSA with a variety of blank-field and calibrator observations, and cross-checked its calibration scale against independent measurements. We find that systematic effects can be suppressed below the thermal noise level in long observations; the overall calibration accuracy of the flux density scale is 3.5 per cent and is limited by the external absolute calibration scale.