Wide Field Imaging

Wide-field observing refers primarily to the non-coplanar nature of the VLA when observing in non-snapshot mode. At high angular resolutions and low frequencies, standard imaging methods will produce artifacts around sources away from the phase center.  Faceted imaging (AIPS, CASA) and w-projection (CASA) techniques can be used to solve this problem.

Another aspect of wide-field observing is the accurate representation of primary beam patterns, and their use during imaging. This is relevant only for very high dynamic ranges ( > 10000 ) or when there are very strong confusing sources at and beyond the half-power point of the primary beam.  This problem is worse with a wide-band instrument simply because the size of the primary beam (and the radius at which the half-power point occurs) varies with frequency, while there is also increased sensitivity out to a wider field of view. Work is under way to commission algorithms that deal with these effects by modeling and correcting for frequency-dependent and rotating primary beams per antenna, during imaging. Please note, however, that most advanced methods will lead to a significant increase in processing time, and may not always be required. Therefore, in the interest of practicality, they should be used only if there is evidence of artifacts without these methods.

Finally, all of the above effects come into play for mosaicing, another form of wide-field imaging in which data from multiple pointings are combined during or after imaging.

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