Expanded Very Large Array

TL;DR

The paper discusses the upgrade of the Very Large Array, significantly enhancing its sensitivity and bandwidth, thereby expanding its scientific discovery potential and enabling new research capabilities.

Contribution

It introduces the new WIDAR correlator and details the upgrade's impact on the array's performance and early science programs.

Findings

Order of magnitude sensitivity improvement

Up to 16 GHz bandwidth per baseline

Successful initiation of early science programs

Abstract

The Very Large Array is undergoing a major upgrade that will attain an order of magnitude improvement in continuum sensitivity across 1 to 50 GHz with instantaneous bandwidths up to 8 GHz in both polarizations. The new WIDAR correlator provides a highly flexible spectrometer with up to 16 GHz of bandwidth and a minimum of 16k channels for each array baseline. The new capabilities revolutionize the scientific discovery potential of the telescope. Early science programs are now underway. We provide an update on the status of the project and a description of early science programs.