LOFAR Deep Fields: Probing the sub-mJy regime of polarized extragalactic sources in ELAIS-N1. I. The catalog

TL;DR

This study uses LOFAR to detect and catalog faint polarized extragalactic radio sources at 150 MHz, revealing new sources and depolarization effects, and providing the deepest polarization data at this frequency.

Contribution

It introduces a novel stacking method for LOFAR polarization data and presents the first deep, high-resolution catalog of polarized sources at 150 MHz.

Findings

Detected 25 polarized sources above 8σ, including 5 new detections.

Found significant depolarization of sources at 150 MHz compared to 1.4 GHz.

Provided the deepest polarization source counts at 150 MHz to date.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to probe the sub-mJy polarized source population with LOFAR. We present the method used to stack LOFAR polarization datasets, the resulting catalog of polarized sources, and the derived polarized source counts. The ELAIS-N1 field was selected for a polarimetric study at 114.9-177.4 MHz. A total area of 25 deg2 was imaged at 6"- resolution in the Stokes Q and U parameters. Alignment of polarization angles was done both in frequency and in Faraday space before stacking datasets from 19 eight-hour-long epochs. A search for polarized sources was carried out in the final, stacked dataset, and the properties of the detected sources were examined. The depolarization level of sources known to be polarized at 1.4 GHz was quantified. A one-sigma noise level of 19 {\mu}Jy/beam was reached in the central part of the field after stacking. Twenty-five polarized sources were detected above 8\sigma, five of which had not been detected in polarization at any other radio frequencies before. Seven additional polarized components were found by lowering the threshold to 6\sigma at positions corresponding to sources known to be polarized at 1.4 GHz. In two radio galaxies, polarization was detected from both radio lobes, so the final number of associated radio continuum sources is 31. The detected sources are weakly polarized, with a median degree of polarization of 1.75% for the sample of sources detected in polarized emission. The sources previously detected in polarization at 1.4 GHz are significantly depolarized at 150 MHz. The catalog is used to derive the polarized source counts at 150 MHz. This is the deepest and highest-resolution polarization study at 150 MHz to date.