Future Science Prospects for AMI

The Arcminute Microkelvin Imager (AMI) is a telescope specifically designed for high sensitivity measurements of low-surface-brightness features at cm-wavelength and has unique, important capabilities. It consists of two interferometer arrays operating over 13.5-18 GHz that image structures on scale...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Grainge, K, Alexander, P, Battye, R, Birkinshaw, M, Blain, A, Bremer, M, Bridle, S, Brown, M, Davis, R, Dickinson, C, Edge, A, Efstathiou, G, Fender, R, Hardcastle, M, Hatchell, J, Hobson, M, Jarvis, M, Maughan, B, McHardy, I, Middleton, M, Lasenby, A, Saunders, R, Savini, G, Scaife, A, Smith, G
Format: Journal article
Published: 2012
Description
Summary:The Arcminute Microkelvin Imager (AMI) is a telescope specifically designed for high sensitivity measurements of low-surface-brightness features at cm-wavelength and has unique, important capabilities. It consists of two interferometer arrays operating over 13.5-18 GHz that image structures on scales of 0.5-10 arcmin with very low systematics. The Small Array (AMI-SA; ten 3.7-m antennas) couples very well to Sunyaev-Zel'dovich features from galaxy clusters and to many Galactic features. The Large Array (AMI-LA; eight 13-m antennas) has a collecting area ten times that of the AMI-SA and longer baselines, crucially allowing the removal of the effects of confusing radio point sources from regions of low surface-brightness, extended emission. Moreover AMI provides fast, deep object surveying and allows monitoring of large numbers of objects. In this White Paper we review the new science - both Galactic and extragalactic - already achieved with AMI and outline the prospects for much more.