Polarisation calibrators
The table below lists the two primary polarisation calibrators, J1331+3030 and J0521+1638 (3C 286 and 3C 138, respectively), along with another batch of possible L-band polarisation calibrators (Taylor & Legodi 2021) that are found to be significantly polarised over the wide-band with low rotation measures (RM <~ 10) at L-band. These calibrators are also on the list of MeerKAT L-band gain calibrators while some (indicated with UHF measurements given in the table) also form part of the UHF list of gain calibrators. The set of potential polarisation calibrators is being monitored and vetted for suitability as polarisation calibrators at L-band.
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Calibrator name | RAJ2000 | DecJ2000 | S1.4GHz (Jy) | alphaL-band | SED plot | p1.4GHz (%) | PA1.4GHz (deg) | med(vL) (%) | p816MHz (%) | med(vUHF) (%) | RML (rad/m2) |
J1331+3030 | 13:31:08 | +30:30:33 | 14.259 +/- 0.174 | -0.538 +/- 0.02 | 9.30 +/- 0.02 | 33.1 +/- 0.1 | 0.018 +/- 0.008 | 4.11 +/- 0.18 | 0.187 +/- 0.082 | 0.00 +/- 0.2 | |
J0521+1638 | 05:21:10 | +16:38:22.052 | 8.332 +/- 0.187 | -0.636 +/- 0.01 | 7.71 +/- 0.05 | -8.2 +/- 0.2 | 0.052 +/- 0.007 | 2.69 +/- 0.21 | -1.449 +/- 0.171 | -0.80 +/- 0.3 | |
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J0059+0006 | 00:59:06 | +00:06:52 | 2.449 +/- 0.055 | -0.559 +/- 0.01 | 3.76 +/- 0.05 | 74.3 +/- 0.6 | -0.098 +/- 0.005 | 1.44 +/- 0.10 | 0.608 +/- 0.074 | -3.60 +/- 0.8 | |
J0108+0134 | 01:08:39 | +01:35:00 | 3.113 +/- 0.070 | -0.273 +/- 0.02 | 3.88 +/- 0.01 | -79.7 +/- 0.2 | -0.033 +/- 0.007 | -- | -- | -6.60 +/- 0.5 | |
J1051-2023 | 10:51:32 | -20:23:47 | 1.442 +/- 0.032 | -1.075 +/- 0.01 | 2.30 +/- 0.01 | 66.7 +/- 0.1 | -0.041 +/- 0.003 | 0.35 +/- 0.17 | 0.314 +/- 0.036 | -4.00 +/- 1.2 | |
J1239-1023 | 12:39:43 | -10:23:29 | 1.554 +/- 0.019 | -0.068 +/- 0.03 | 2.51 +/- 0.01 | 78.8 +/- 0.2 | 0.102 +/- 0.003 | 2.77 +/- 0.04 | 0.752 +/- 0.054 | 2.40 +/- 1.1 | |
J1424-4913 | 14:24:32 | -49:13:50 | 8.131 +/- 0.099 | -0.382 +/- 0.02 | 1.84 +/- 0.01 | -4.4 +/- 0.2 | -0.010 +/- 0.001 | -- | -- | 10.80 +/- 1.5 | |
J1512-0906 | 15:12:51 | -09:06:00 | 2.442 +/- 0.030 | -0.034 +/- 0.03 | 3.24 +/- 0.01 | 42.0 +/- 0.1 | 0.051 +/- 0.001 | -- | -- | -10.40 +/- 0.7 | |
J1517-2422 | 15:17:42 | -24:22:19 | 3.026 +/- 0.037 | -0.009 +/- 0.02 | 3.35 +/- 0.01 | 41.0 +/- 0.2 | -0.006 +/- 0.003 | 4.82 +/- 0.44 | 0.336 +/- 0.148 | -5.40 +/- 0.5 | |
J1550+0527 | 15:50:35 | +05:27:10 | 2.864 +/- 0.035 | -0.162 +/- 0.02 | 1.77 +/- 0.01 | 78.1 +/- 0.2 | -0.042 +/- 0.001 | 1.48 +/- 0.34 | -0.227 +/- 0.095 | -6.40 +/- 1.6 | |
J1923-2104 | 19:23:32 | -21:04:33 | 1.215 +/- 0.015 | -0.179 +/- 0.03 | 2.93 +/- 0.01 | -33.1 +/- 0.2 | 0.060 +/- 0.002 | -- | -- | 9.80 +/- 0.8 | |
J2131-1207 | 21:31:01 | -12:07:05 | 1.970 +/- 0.024 | 0.110 +/- 0.03 | 1.75 +/- 0.01 | -44.1 +/- 0.1 | -0.109 +/- 0.002 | -- | -- | 6.80 +/- 0.9 |