Karl G. Jansky VLA Tutorials: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 03:54, 17 May 2016

Introduction

The Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) Tutorials are meant to guide the observer through some common types of data analysis, using example datasets, and including explanations of the individual steps. These analyses will be broadly applicable to many VLA data sets.

If you are new to CASA, you may start with

Getting Started in CASA

VLA Tutorials

Carbon Star IRC+10216: high frequency (36GHz), spectral line data reduction (CASA 4.6)

IRC+10216 Tutorial

This tutorial requires to download a dataset 1.1GB in size

Calibrate and make image cubes of the line emission from this asymptotic giant branch star. This is a high-frequency VLA dataset. Includes:

Inspecting data; basic flagging & calibration

Subtracting continuum emission

Imaging the spectral lines

Imaging the continuum

Image analysis

Self-calibration

Supernova Remnant 3C391: 6cm Polarimetry and Continuum Imaging, Mosaicking (CASA 4.6)

3C391 Tutorial

This tutorial requires to download a dataset 3.1GB in size

Calibrate VLA full polarization data, image a mosaic of the region in full Stokes and create a spectral index map. Includes:

Inspecting data; basic flagging

Calibration

Image Analysis and Manipulation

Polarization Imaging

Spectral Index imaging

Self-calibration

VLA Tutorials for more Advanced Users

Supernova SN2010FZ: Wide-band, narrow-field imaging; C-band (5-7 GHz) (CASA 4.4)

Supernova SN2010FZ Tutorial

This tutorial requires to download a dataset 2.9GB in size

Calibrate and image a galaxy field for this mid-frequency VLA observation. This includes:

Excising RFI from the data

Basic flagging and calibration steps

Imaging from one spectral window to full dataset

Using multi-scale, multi-frequency synthesis

Image analysis

Protostar G192.16-3.84: Wide-band, narrow-field imaging using 3-bit sampled data; Ka-band (27-38 GHz) (CASA 4.4)

Protostar G192.16-3.84 Tutorial

This tutorial requires the download of an 18GB dataset

Calibrate and image a protostar for this high-frequency VLA observation taken using the 3-bit samplers. Note that this tutorial can be used as a guide for 8-bit data as well. This includes:

Deleting bad data and RFI

Basic calibration, including tropospheric opacity and requantizer gain corrections

Bootstrapping to determine the spectrum of the bandpass calibration source

Imaging from a single spectral window to the full dataset

Using multi-frequency synthesis imaging

Image analysis

Supernova G55.7_3.4: Wide-band, wide-field imaging; L-band (1-2 GHz) (CASA 4.4)

G55.7+3.4 Tutorial

This tutorial requires to download a dataset 14GB in size

This low-frequency VLA tutorial for the observation of a supernova remnant focuses on RFI excision as well as imaging wide-field and wide-fractional-bandwidth data. This includes:

Basic flagging and evaluation

Different methods for automatic RFI excision

Calibrating the data

Exploring different imaging options: widefield, multi-scale, and multi-frequency synthesis

P-band continuum imaging data reduction tutorial (CASA 4.6)

P-band basic data reduction

This tutorial requires to download a dataset 21GB in size

This low-frequency VLA tutorial for the observation of a giant radio remnant focuses on low frequency wide-fractional-bandwidth data in the sub GHz regime . This includes:

Basic flagging and evaluation

Automatic RFI Excision

Ionospheric Calibration

Self - Calibration