Breakthrough Listen

Abstract:

Radio wavelengths offer the unique possibility of tracing the total star-formation rate in galaxies, both obscured and unobscured. As such, they may provide the most robust measurement of the star-formation history of the Universe. In this chapter we highlight the constraints that the SKA can place on the evolution of the star-formation history of the Universe, the survey area required to overcome sample variance, the spatial resolution requirements, along with the multi-wavelength ancillary data that will play a major role in maximising the scientific promise of the SKA. The required combination of depth and resolution means that a survey to trace the star formation in the Universe should be carried out with a facility that has a resolution of at least ~0.5arcsec, with high sensitivity at < 1 GHz. We also suggest a strategy that will enable new parameter space to be explored as the SKA expands over the coming decade.

Abstract:

(Abridged)One of the fundamental challenges for astrophysics in the 21st century is finding a way to untangle the physical processes that govern galaxy formation and evolution. Given the importance and scope of this problem, the multi-wavelength astronomical community has used the past decade to build up a wealth of information over specific extragalactic deep fields to address key questions in galaxy formation and evolution. These fields generally cover at least 10square degrees to facilitate the investigation of the rarest, typically most massive, galaxies and AGN. Furthermore, such areal coverage allows the environments to be fully accounted for, thereby linking the single halo to the two-halo terms in the halo occupation distribution. Surveys at radio wavelengths have begun to lag behind those at other wavelengths, especially in this medium-deep survey tier. However, the survey speed offered by the JVLA means that we can now reach a point where we can begin to obtain commensurate data at radio wavelengths to those which already exists from the X-ray through to the far-infrared over ~10 square degrees. We therefore present the case for a 10 square degree survey to 1.5uJy at L-band in A or B Array, requiring ~4000 hours to provide census of star-formation and AGN-accretion activity in the Universe. For example, the observations will allow galaxies forming stars at 10Msolar/yr to be detected out to z~1 and luminous infrared galaxies (1000Msolar/yr to be found out to z~6. Furthermore, the survey area ensures that we will have enough cosmic volume to find these rare sources at all epochs. The bandwidth will allow us to determine the polarisation properties galaxies in the high-redshift Universe as a function of stellar mass, morphology and redshift.

Abstract:

Astronomy at or below the survey threshold has expanded significantly since the publication of the original Science with the Square Kilometer Array in 1999 and its update in 2004. The techniques in this regime may be broadly (but far from exclusively) defined as confusion or P(D) analyses (analyses of one-point statistics), and stacking, accounting for the flux-density distribution of noise-limited images co-added at the positions of objects detected/isolated in a different waveband. Here we discuss the relevant issues, present some examples of recent analyses, and consider some of the consequences for the design and use of surveys with the SKA and its pathfinders.

Abstract:

Morphologically classifying radio sources in continuum images with the SKA has the potential to address some of the key questions in cosmology and galaxy evolution. In particular, we may use different classes of radio sources as independent tracers of the dark-matter density field, and thus overcome cosmic variance in measuring large-scale structure, while on the galaxy evolution side we could measure the mechanical feedback from FRII and FRI jets. This work makes use of a MeqTrees-based simulations framework to forecast the ability of the SKA to recover true source morphologies at high redshifts. A suite of high resolution images containing realistic continuum source distributions with different morphologies (FRI, FRII, starburst galaxies) is fed through an SKA Phase 1 simulator, then analysed to determine the sensitivity limits at which the morphologies can still be distinguished. We also explore how changing the antenna distribution affects these results.