Single dish performance of KVN 21-m radio telescopes:Simultaneous observations at 22 and 43 GHz

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the simultaneous multi-frequency performance of the Korean VLBI Network's 21-m radio telescopes at 22 and 43 GHz, demonstrating their efficiency and accuracy for millimeter-wave observations.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed performance assessment of KVN's dual-frequency capabilities at 22 and 43 GHz, including beam alignment, efficiency, and noise characteristics.

Findings

Beam offset within <5 arcseconds across all pointing directions.

Receiver noise temperatures below 40 K at 22 GHz and 80 K at 43 GHz.

Aperture efficiencies around 60-67% and main-beam efficiencies around 47-52%.

Abstract

We report simultaneous multi-frequency observing performance at 22 and 43 GHz of the 21-m shaped-Cassegrain radio telescopes of the Korean VLBI Network (KVN). KVN is the first millimeter-dedicated VLBI network in Korea having a maximum baseline length of 480 km. It currently operates at 22 and 43 GHz and planed to operate in four frequency bands, 22, 43, 86, and 129 GHz. The unique quasioptics of KVN enable simultaneous multi-frequency observations based on efficient beam filtering and accuarate antenna-beam alignment at 22 and 43 GHz. We found that the offset of the beams is within <5 arcseconds over all pointing directions of antenna. The dual polarization, cooled HEMT receivers at 22 and 43 GHz result in receiver noise temperatures less than 40 K at 21.25-23.25 GHz and 80 K at 42.11-44.11 GHz. The pointing accuracies have been measured to be 3 arcseconds in azimuth and elevation for all antennas. The measured aperture efficiencies are 65%(K)/67%(Q), 62%(K)/59%(Q), and 66%(K)/60%(Q) for the three KVN antennas, KVNYS, KVNUS, and KVNTN, respectively. The main-beam efficiencies are measured to be 50%(K)/52%(Q), 48%(K)/50%(Q), and 50%(K)/47%(Q) for KVNYS, KVNUS, and KVNTN, respectively. The estimated Moon efficiencies are 77%(K)/90%(Q), 74%(K)/79%(Q), and 80%(K)/86%(Q) for KVNYS, KVNUS, KVNTN, respectively. The elevation dependence of the aperture efficiencies is quite flat for elevations > 20 degrees.