We characterize the accuracy of linear-polarization mosaics made using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). First, we observed the bright, highly linearly polarized blazar 3C 279 at Bands 3, 5, 6, and 7 (3 mm, 1.6 mm, 1.3 mm, and 0.87 mm, respectively). At each band, we measured the blazars polarization on an 11$times$11 grid of evenly-spaced offset pointings covering the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) area of the primary beam. After applying calibration solutions derived from the on-axis pointing of 3C 279 to all of the on- and off-axis data, we find that the residual polarization errors across the primary beam are similar at all frequencies: the residual errors in linear polarization fraction $P_textrm{frac}$ and polarization position angle $chi$ are $lesssim$0.001 ($lesssim$0.1% of Stokes $I$) and $lesssim$1$^circ$ near the center of the primary beam; the errors increase to $sim$0.003-0.005 ($sim$0.3-0.5% of Stokes $I$) and $sim$1-5$^circ$ near the FWHM as a result of the asymmetric beam patterns in the (linearly polarized) $Q$ and $U$ maps. We see the expected double-lobed beam squint pattern in the circular polarization (Stokes $V$) maps. Second, to test the polarization accuracy in a typical ALMA project, we performed observations of continuum linear polarization toward the Kleinmann-Low nebula in Orion (Orion-KL) using several mosaic patterns at Bands 3 and 6. We show that after mosaicking, the residual off-axis errors decrease as a result of overlapping multiple pointings. Finally, we compare the ALMA mosaics with an archival 1.3 mm CARMA polarization mosaic of Orion-KL and find good consistency in the polarization patterns.
تحميل البحث