A first glimpse at the MeerKAT DEEP2 field at S-band

TL;DR

This paper introduces the first widefield extragalactic continuum catalogue from MeerKAT S-band observations of the DEEP2 field, demonstrating the instrument's capabilities and providing valuable source counts and spectral indices for future studies.

Contribution

It presents the first MeerKAT S-band widefield catalogue, including source counts, morphological comparisons, and spectral indices, showcasing the potential of MeerKAT S-band for extragalactic research.

Findings

Consistent source counts with existing literature.

Successful demonstration of MeerKAT S-band imaging capabilities.

Spectral indices fitted over 1.8 GHz frequency range.

Abstract

We present the first widefield extragalactic continuum catalogue with the MeerKAT S-band (2.5 GHz), of the radio-selected DEEP2 field. The combined image over the S1 (1.96 - 2.84 GHz) and S4 (2.62 - 3.50 GHz) sub-bands has an angular resolution of 6.8''$\times$3.6'' (4.0''$\times$2.4'') at a robust weighting of $R = 0.3$ ($R=-0.5$) and a sensitivity of 4.7 (7.5) $\mu$Jy beam$^{-1}$ with an on-source integration time of 70 minutes and a minimum of 52 of the 64 antennas, for respective observations. We present the differential source counts for this field, as well as a morphological comparison of resolved sources between S-band and archival MeerKAT L-band images. We find consistent source counts with the literature and provide spectral indices fitted over a combined frequency range of 1.8 GHz. These observations provide an important first demonstration of the capabilities of MeerKAT S-band imaging with relatively short integration times, as well as a comparison with existing S-band surveys, highlighting the rich scientific potential with future MeerKAT S-band surveys.