DOI

https://doi.org/10.48717/gs73-d037

Project

ER052

Title

Mapping EVN primary beams

Abstract

Wide-field VLBI surveys are beginning to come to the forefront of radio astronomy research with new technical developments allowing degrees of the sky to be surveyed. These have provided unique insights into many different phenomena such as AGN, supernovae, transient localisation, and many more. In particular, the European VLBI Network's (EVN) unparalleled sensitivity is crucial in exploring the faintest radio sources. With the increasing number of experiments using wide-field VLBI, the EVN's role will become increasingly important in the future. However, surveys using the EVN are currently limited due to the lack of L-band primary beam measurements that restricts the sensitivity, dynamic range and field-of-view (FoV) of wide-field surveys. The lack of models can lead to a drastic loss (20-80%) of sensitivity across the FoV. In this proposal, we request 9 hours to map the primary beam of the EVN stations by targeting the bright OH masers of W75N-VLA2. By offsetting the pointing centre from the target, we will use the cross-correlations and auto-correlations to get two independent measurements of the primary beam response. Obtaining primary beam models are essential in maximising the science output of EVN surveys.