A high resolution foreground model for the MWA EoR1 field: model and implications for EoR power spectrum analysis

Understand

The current generation of experiments aiming to detect the neutral hydrogen signal from the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR) is likely to be limited by systematic effects associated with removing foreground sources from target fields.

• In this paper we develop a model for the compact foreground sources in one of the target fields of the MWA's EoR key science experiment: the `EoR1' field.
• The model is based on both the MWA's GLEAM survey and GMRT 150 MHz data from the TGSS survey, the latter providing higher angular resolution and better astrometric accuracy for compact sources than is available from the MWA alone.
• The model contains 5049 sources, some of which have complicated morphology in MWA data, Fornax A being the most complex.