Abstract
Superclusters and galaxy clusters offer a wide range of astrophysical science topics with regards to studying the evolution and distribution of galaxies, intra-cluster magnetization mediums, cosmic ray accelerations and large scale diffuse radio sources all in one observation. Recent developments in new radio telescopes and advanced calibration software have completely changed data quality that was never possible with old generation telescopes. Hence, radio observations of superclusters are a very promising avenue to gather rich information of a large-scale structure (LSS) and their formation mechanisms. These newer wide-band and wide field-of-view (FOV) observations require state-of-the-art data analysis procedures, including calibration and imaging, in order to provide deep and high dynamic range (DR) images with which to study the diffuse and faint radio emissions in supercluster environments. Sometimes, strong point sources hamper the radio observations and limit the achievement of a high DR. In this paper, we have shown the DR improvements around strong radio sources in the MeerKAT observation of the Saraswati supercluster by applying newer third-generation calibration (3GC) techniques using CubiCal and killMS software. We have also calculated the statistical parameters to quantify the improvements around strong radio sources. This analysis advocates for the use of new calibration techniques to maximize the scientific returns from new-generation telescopes.
Highlights
The large-scale structure (LSS) of the universe takes the form of an intricate, interconnected web-like structure called the cosmic web [1]
There are more than 100 diffuse radio sources that have been detected in the intra-cluster medium (ICM) of galaxy clusters
We show the importance of the third-generation calibration (3GC, [11]) on wide field-of-view (FOV) radio interferometry observations, for example, the Saraswati supercluster [12]
Summary
The large-scale structure (LSS) of the universe takes the form of an intricate, interconnected web-like structure called the cosmic web [1]. The improved sensitivities of these radio telescopes allow us to study faint and diffuse radio sources such as radio halos, relics, and mini-halos, which are associated with the whole cluster evolution process and not with any single galaxy [9] (and references therein). The 2GC has opened up the field of radio astronomy and provided deep and detailed imaging of radio sources with the highest dynamic range (DR) Both 1GC and 2GC are direction-independent (DI) calibration techniques. To correct the calibration errors towards these sources, one has to use a new generation of calibration process that can work for the phase-centre source(s), and improve the sources away from the tracking centre This requires special software which can break the large FOV into a number of pieces and correct complex gains for the particular patch of the sky.
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