ALMA Memo # 428

Compact Configuration Evaluation

Melvyn Wright Radio, Astronomy laboratory, University of California, Berkeley 

12/06/2002

Keywords: Antenna Configurations, Image Simulations 

Abstract 
In this memo, we compare the imaging performance of 3 compact
configurations.  We have written MIRIAD scripts to simulate imaging
with ALMA, and pipeline the results into tables.  We present a table of
beam FWHM, brightness sensitivity and sidelobe levels as a function of
declination.  Single field images for source diameters 8, 16, 24, and
32 arcsec are also analyzed.  Based on these results, 2 compact
arrays appear sufficient. Omitting an extended N-S compact configuration
is operationally simpler and saves about $1M.