System equivalent flux density of Stokes I, Q, U, V of a polarimetric interferometer [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2205.15579


We present the system equivalent flux density (SEFD) expressions for all four Stokes parameters: I, Q, U, V. The expressions were derived based on our derivation of SEFD I (for Stokes I) and subsequent extensions of that work to phased array and multipole interferometers. The key to the derivation of the SEFD Q, U, V expressions is to recognize that the noisy estimates of Q, U, V can be written as the trace of a matrix product. This shows that the SEFD I is a special case, where the general case involves a diagonal or anti-diagonal 2×2 matrix interposed in the matrix multiplication. Following this step, the relation between the SEFD for I and Q, U, V becomes immediately evident. We present example calculations for a crossed dipole based on the formulas derived and the comparison between simulation and observation using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA).

Read this paper on arXiv…

A. Sutinjo, D. Ung and M. Sokolowski
Wed, 1 Jun 22
59/65

Comments: 6 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A on 25 May 2022