MMA Memo #138

Comparing MMA and VLA Capabilities in the 36-50 GHz Band

M.A. Holdaway [1]

September 29, 1995

Keywords: Q band, imaging speed, sensitivity, VLA, wide field imaging

I explore the capabilities of the MMA and the VLA, both current and upgraded, in the 36-50 GHz band. The current VLA is 1.5 orders of magnitude behind the MMA in point source sensitivity and 5 orders of magnitude behind the MMA in low resolution mosaicing speed. Even if the VLA is upgraded, the point source sensitivity will be only comparable to the MMA, and the MMA will still be 25 times faster in a wide field point source survey and 2-3 orders of magnitude faster at wide field imaging of low surface brightness structure, such as the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect or free-free emission from nearby galaxies. This study shows that the MMA and VLA 36-50 GHz systems are complementary rather than redundant.

[1] NRAO/NM

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Last modified: 09 December, 1999