Speaker
Description
The MeerKAT Band 5B project aims to extend the frequency coverage of the MeerKAT radio telescope by installing 64 new cryogenic receivers on each MeerKAT antenna. These receivers will operate over the 8.3–15.4 GHz frequency range, corresponding to Band 5b of SKA-Mid.
This will enhance and enable relevant studies in cosmological surveys, galaxy formation and evolution, star formation and the interstellar medium, galactic and extragalactic transients, planet formation, and the search for biomolecules. Moreover, exploring a new parameter space with sub-mJy sensitivity and sub-arcsecond angular resolution could lead to new and unexpected discoveries.
Access to this high-frequency range will make MeerKAT the most sensitive centimetre-wave interferometer in the southern hemisphere within this band, until SKA-Mid — which will incorporate MeerKAT — becomes operational. Even after SKA-Mid’s completion, the Band 5B system has the potential to complement and further enhance SKA-Mid’s performance in this frequency range, as the receivers have been developed in alignment with the ambitious SKA requirements.
The project is conducted within the framework of a broader collaboration between INAF and the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO).
Fifty-two (52) of the 64 receivers are already on site, and all 64 Digitiser D-Engines have been produced and tested.
