The GaLactic and Extragalactic All-sky Murchison Widefield Array (GLEAM) is a radio continuum survey at 76–227 MHz of the entire southern sky (Declination $<\!{+}30^{\circ}$ ) with an angular resolution of ${\approx}2$ arcmin. In this paper, we combine GLEAM data with optical spectroscopy from the 6dF Galaxy Survey to construct a sample of 1 590 local (median $z \approx 0.064$ ) radio sources with $S_{200\,\mathrm{MHz}} > 55$ mJy across an area of ${\approx}16\,700\,\mathrm{deg}^{2}$ . From the optical spectra, we identify the dominant physical process responsible for the radio emission from each galaxy: 73% are fuelled by an active galactic nucleus (AGN) and 27% by star formation. We present the local radio luminosity function for AGN and star-forming (SF) galaxies at 200 MHz and characterise the typical radio spectra of these two populations between 76 MHz and ${\sim}1$ GHz. For the AGN, the median spectral index between 200 MHz and ${\sim}1$ GHz, $\alpha_{\mathrm{high}}$ , is $-0.600 \pm 0.010$ (where $S \propto \nu^{\alpha}$ ) and the median spectral index within the GLEAM band, $\alpha_{\mathrm{low}}$ , is $-0.704 \pm 0.011$ . For the SF galaxies, the median value of $\alpha_{\mathrm{high}}$ is $-0.650 \pm 0.010$ and the median value of $\alpha_{\mathrm{low}}$ is $-0.596 \pm 0.015$ . Among the AGN population, flat-spectrum sources are more common at lower radio luminosity, suggesting the existence of a significant population of weak radio AGN that remain core-dominated even at low frequencies. However, around 4% of local radio AGN have ultra-steep radio spectra at low frequencies ( $\alpha_{\mathrm{low}} < -1.2$ ). These ultra-steep-spectrum sources span a wide range in radio luminosity, and further work is needed to clarify their nature.

We detect and characterise extended, diffuse radio emission from galaxy clusters at 168 MHz within the Epoch of Reionization 0-h field: a $45^{\circ} \times 45^{\circ}$ region of the southern sky centred on R. A.${}= 0^{\circ}$, decl.${}=-27^{\circ}$. We detect 29 sources of interest; a newly detected halo in Abell 0141; a newly detected relic in Abell 2751; 4 new halo candidates and a further 4 new relic candidates; and a new phoenix candidate in Abell 2556. Additionally, we find nine clusters with unclassifiable, diffuse steep-spectrum emission as well as a candidate double relic system associated with RXC J2351.0-1934. We present measured source properties such as their integrated flux densities, spectral indices ($\alpha$, where $S_\nu \propto \nu^\alpha$), and sizes where possible. We find several of the diffuse sources to have ultra-steep spectra including the halo in Abell 0141, if confirmed, showing $\alpha \leq -2.1 \pm 0.1$ with the present data making it one of the steepest-spectrum haloes known. Finally, we compare our sample of haloes with previously detected haloes and revisit established scaling relations of the radio halo power ($P_{1.4}$) with the cluster X-ray luminosity ($L_{\textrm{X}}$) and mass ($M_{500}$). We find that the newly detected haloes and candidate haloes are consistent with the $P_{1.4}$–$L_{\textrm{X}}$ and $P_{1.4}$–$M_{500}$ relations and see an increase in scatter in the previously found relations with increasing sample size likely caused by inhomogeneous determination of $P_{1.4}$ across the full halo sample. We show that the MWA is capable of detecting haloes and relics within most of the galaxy clusters within the Planck catalogue of Sunyaev–Zel’dovich sources depending on exact halo or relic properties.

To make a power spectrum (PS) detection of the 21-cm signal from the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR), one must avoid/subtract bright foreground sources. Sources such as Fornax A present a modelling challenge due to spatial structures spanning from arc seconds up to a degree. We compare modelling with multi-scale (MS) CLEAN components to ‘shapelets’, an alternative set of basis functions. We introduce a new image-based shapelet modelling package, SHAMFI. We also introduce a new CUDA simulation code (WODEN) to generate point source, Gaussian, and shapelet components into visibilities. We test performance by modelling a simulation of Fornax A, peeling the model from simulated visibilities, and producing a residual PS. We find the shapelet method consistently subtracts large-angular-scale emission well, even when the angular resolution of the data is changed. We find that when increasing the angular resolution of the data, the MS CLEAN model worsens at large angular scales. When testing on real Murchison Widefield Array data, the expected improvement is not seen in real data because of the other dominating systematics still present. Through further simulation, we find the expected differences to be lower than obtainable through current processing pipelines. We conclude shapelets are worthwhile for subtracting extended galaxies, and may prove essential for an EoR detection in the future, once other systematics have been addressed.

The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) has observed the entire southern sky (Declination, $\delta< 30^{\circ}$ ) at low radio frequencies, over the range 72–231MHz. These observations constitute the GaLactic and Extragalactic All-sky MWA (GLEAM) Survey, and we use the extragalactic catalogue (EGC) (Galactic latitude, $|b| >10^{\circ}$ ) to define the GLEAM 4-Jy (G4Jy) Sample. This is a complete sample of the ‘brightest’ radio sources ( $S_{\textrm{151\,MHz}}>4\,\text{Jy}$ ), the majority of which are active galactic nuclei with powerful radio jets. Crucially, low-frequency observations allow the selection of such sources in an orientation-independent way (i.e. minimising the bias caused by Doppler boosting, inherent in high-frequency surveys). We then use higher-resolution radio images, and information at other wavelengths, to morphologically classify the brightest components in GLEAM. We also conduct cross-checks against the literature and perform internal matching, in order to improve sample completeness (which is estimated to be $>95.5$ %). This results in a catalogue of 1863 sources, making the G4Jy Sample over 10 times larger than that of the revised Third Cambridge Catalogue of Radio Sources (3CRR; $S_{\textrm{178\,MHz}}>10.9\,\text{Jy}$ ). Of these G4Jy sources, 78 are resolved by the MWA (Phase-I) synthesised beam ( $\sim2$ arcmin at 200MHz), and we label 67% of the sample as ‘single’, 26% as ‘double’, 4% as ‘triple’, and 3% as having ‘complex’ morphology at $\sim1\,\text{GHz}$ (45 arcsec resolution). We characterise the spectral behaviour of these objects in the radio and find that the median spectral index is $\alpha=-0.740 \pm 0.012$ between 151 and 843MHz, and $\alpha=-0.786 \pm 0.006$ between 151MHz and 1400MHz (assuming a power-law description, $S_{\nu} \propto \nu^{\alpha}$ ), compared to $\alpha=-0.829 \pm 0.006$ within the GLEAM band. Alongside this, our value-added catalogue provides mid-infrared source associations (subject to 6” resolution at 3.4 $\mu$ m) for the radio emission, as identified through visual inspection and thorough checks against the literature. As such, the G4Jy Sample can be used as a reliable training set for cross-identification via machine-learning algorithms. We also estimate the angular size of the sources, based on their associated components at $\sim1\,\text{GHz}$ , and perform a flux density comparison for 67 G4Jy sources that overlap with 3CRR. Analysis of multi-wavelength data, and spectral curvature between 72MHz and 20GHz, will be presented in subsequent papers, and details for accessing all G4Jy overlays are provided at https://github.com/svw26/G4Jy.

The entire southern sky (Declination, $\delta< 30^{\circ}$ ) has been observed using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), which provides radio imaging of $\sim$ 2 arcmin resolution at low frequencies (72–231 MHz). This is the GaLactic and Extragalactic All-sky MWA (GLEAM) Survey, and we have previously used a combination of visual inspection, cross-checks against the literature, and internal matching to identify the ‘brightest’ radio-sources ( $S_{\mathrm{151\,MHz}}>4$ Jy) in the extragalactic catalogue (Galactic latitude, $|b| >10^{\circ}$ ). We refer to these 1 863 sources as the GLEAM 4-Jy (G4Jy) Sample, and use radio images (of ${\leq}45$ arcsec resolution), and multi-wavelength information, to assess their morphology and identify the galaxy that is hosting the radio emission (where appropriate). Details of how to access all of the overlays used for this work are available at https://github.com/svw26/G4Jy. Alongside this we conduct further checks against the literature, which we document here for individual sources. Whilst the vast majority of the G4Jy Sample are active galactic nuclei with powerful radio-jets, we highlight that it also contains a nebula, two nearby, star-forming galaxies, a cluster relic, and a cluster halo. There are also three extended sources for which we are unable to infer the mechanism that gives rise to the low-frequency emission. In the G4Jy catalogue we provide mid-infrared identifications for 86% of the sources, and flag the remainder as: having an uncertain identification (129 sources), having a faint/uncharacterised mid-infrared host (126 sources), or it being inappropriate to specify a host (2 sources). For the subset of 129 sources, there is ambiguity concerning candidate host-galaxies, and this includes four sources (B0424–728, B0703–451, 3C 198, and 3C 403.1) where we question the existing identification.

We have detected 27 new supernova remnants (SNRs) using a new data release of the GLEAM survey from the Murchison Widefield Array telescope, including the lowest surface brightness SNR ever detected, G 0.1 – 9.7. Our method uses spectral fitting to the radio continuum to derive spectral indices for 26/27 candidates, and our low-frequency observations probe a steeper spectrum population than previously discovered. None of the candidates have coincident WISE mid-IR emission, further showing that the emission is non-thermal. Using pulsar associations we derive physical properties for six candidate SNRs, finding G 0.1 – 9.7 may be younger than 10 kyr. Sixty per cent of the candidates subtend areas larger than 0.2 deg2 on the sky, compared to < 25% of previously detected SNRs. We also make the first detection of two SNRs in the Galactic longitude range 220°–240°.

This work makes available a further $2\,860~\text{deg}^2$ of the GaLactic and Extragalactic All-sky Murchison Widefield Array (GLEAM) survey, covering half of the accessible galactic plane, across 20 frequency bands sampling 72–231 MHz, with resolution $4\,\text{arcmin}-2\,\text{arcmin}$. Unlike previous GLEAM data releases, we used multi-scale CLEAN to better deconvolve large-scale galactic structure. For the galactic longitude ranges $345^\circ < l < 67^\circ$, $180^\circ < l < 240^\circ$, we provide a compact source catalogue of 22 037 components selected from a 60-MHz bandwidth image centred at 200 MHz, with RMS noise $\approx10-20\,\text{mJy}\,\text{beam}^{-1}$ and position accuracy better than 2 arcsec. The catalogue has a completeness of 50% at ${\approx}120\,\text{mJy}$, and a reliability of 99.86%. It covers galactic latitudes $1^\circ\leq|b|\leq10^\circ$ towards the galactic centre and $|b|\leq10^\circ$ for other regions, and is available from Vizier; images covering $|b|\leq10^\circ$ for all longitudes are made available on the GLEAM Virtual Observatory (VO).server and SkyView.

We examined the latest data release from the GaLactic and Extragalactic All-sky Murchison Widefield Array (GLEAM) survey covering 345° < l < 60° and 180° < l < 240°, using these data and that of the Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer to follow up proposed candidate Supernova Remnant (SNR) from other sources. Of the 101 candidates proposed in the region, we are able to definitively confirm ten as SNRs, tentatively confirm two as SNRs, and reclassify five as H ii regions. A further two are detectable in our images but difficult to classify; the remaining 82 are undetectable in these data. We also investigated the 18 unclassified Multi-Array Galactic Plane Imaging Survey (MAGPIS) candidate SNRs, newly confirming three as SNRs, reclassifying two as H ii regions, and exploring the unusual spectra and morphology of two others.

The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), located in Western Australia, is one of the low-frequency precursors of the international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project. In addition to pursuing its own ambitious science programme, it is also a testbed for wide range of future SKA activities ranging from hardware, software to data analysis. The key science programmes for the MWA and SKA require very high dynamic ranges, which challenges calibration and imaging systems. Correct calibration of the instrument and accurate measurements of source flux densities and polarisations require precise characterisation of the telescope’s primary beam. Recent results from the MWA GaLactic Extragalactic All-sky Murchison Widefield Array (GLEAM) survey show that the previously implemented Average Embedded Element (AEE) model still leaves residual polarisations errors of up to 10–20% in Stokes Q. We present a new simulation-based Full Embedded Element (FEE) model which is the most rigorous realisation yet of the MWA’s primary beam model. It enables efficient calculation of the MWA beam response in arbitrary directions without necessity of spatial interpolation. In the new model, every dipole in the MWA tile (4 × 4 bow-tie dipoles) is simulated separately, taking into account all mutual coupling, ground screen, and soil effects, and therefore accounts for the different properties of the individual dipoles within a tile. We have applied the FEE beam model to GLEAM observations at 200–231 MHz and used false Stokes parameter leakage as a metric to compare the models. We have determined that the FEE model reduced the magnitude and declination-dependent behaviour of false polarisation in Stokes Q and V while retaining low levels of false polarisation in Stokes U.

We present techniques developed to calibrate and correct Murchison Widefield Array low-frequency (72–300 MHz) radio observations for polarimetry. The extremely wide field-of-view, excellent instantaneous (u, v)-coverage and sensitivity to degree-scale structure that the Murchison Widefield Array provides enable instrumental calibration, removal of instrumental artefacts, and correction for ionospheric Faraday rotation through imaging techniques. With the demonstrated polarimetric capabilities of the Murchison Widefield Array, we discuss future directions for polarimetric science at low frequencies to answer outstanding questions relating to polarised source counts, source depolarisation, pulsar science, low-mass stars, exoplanets, the nature of the interstellar and intergalactic media, and the solar environment.

The current generation of experiments aiming to detect the neutral hydrogen signal from the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR) is likely to be limited by systematic effects associated with removing foreground sources from target fields. In this paper, we develop a model for the compact foreground sources in one of the target fields of the MWA’s EoR key science experiment: the ‘EoR1’ field. The model is based on both the MWA’s GLEAM survey and GMRT 150 MHz data from the TGSS survey, the latter providing higher angular resolution and better astrometric accuracy for compact sources than is available from the MWA alone. The model contains 5 049 sources, some of which have complicated morphology in MWA data, Fornax A being the most complex. The higher resolution data show that 13% of sources that appear point-like to the MWA have complicated morphology such as double and quad structure, with a typical separation of 33 arcsec. We derive an analytic expression for the error introduced into the EoR two-dimensional power spectrum due to peeling close double sources as single point sources and show that for the measured source properties, the error in the power spectrum is confined to high k⊥ modes that do not affect the overall result for the large-scale cosmological signal of interest. The brightest 10 mis-modelled sources in the field contribute 90% of the power bias in the data, suggesting that it is most critical to improve the models of the brightest sources. With this hybrid model, we reprocess data from the EoR1 field and show a maximum of 8% improved calibration accuracy and a factor of two reduction in residual power in k-space from peeling these sources. Implications for future EoR experiments including the SKA are discussed in relation to the improvements obtained.

We present low-frequency spectral energy distributions of 60 known radio pulsars observed with the Murchison Widefield Array telescope. We searched the GaLactic and Extragalactic All-sky Murchison Widefield Array survey images for 200-MHz continuum radio emission at the position of all pulsars in the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF) pulsar catalogue. For the 60 confirmed detections, we have measured flux densities in 20 × 8 MHz bands between 72 and 231 MHz. We compare our results to existing measurements and show that the Murchison Widefield Array flux densities are in good agreement.

We estimate spatial gradients in the ionosphere using the Global Positioning System and GLONASS (Russian global navigation system) observations, utilising data from multiple Global Positioning System stations in the vicinity of Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory. In previous work, the ionosphere was characterised using a single-station to model the ionosphere as a single layer of fixed height and this was compared with ionospheric data derived from radio astronomy observations obtained from the Murchison Widefield Array. Having made improvements to our data quality (via cycle slip detection and repair) and incorporating data from the GLONASS system, we now present a multi-station approach. These two developments significantly improve our modelling of the ionosphere. We also explore the effects of a variable-height model. We conclude that modelling the small-scale features in the ionosphere that have been observed with the MWA will require a much denser network of Global Navigation Satellite System stations than is currently available at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory.

We have compiled a catalogue of H ii regions detected with the Murchison Widefield Array between 72 and 231 MHz. The multiple frequency bands provided by the Murchison Widefield Array allow us identify the characteristic spectrum generated by the thermal Bremsstrahlung process in H ii regions. We detect 306 H ii regions between 260° < l < 340° and report on the positions, sizes, peak, integrated flux density, and spectral indices of these H ii regions. By identifying the point at which H ii regions transition from the optically thin to thick regime, we derive the physical properties including the electron density, ionised gas mass, and ionising photon flux, towards 61 H ii regions. This catalogue of H ii regions represents the most extensive and uniform low frequency survey of H ii regions in the Galaxy to date.

We compare first-order (refractive) ionospheric effects seen by the MWA with the ionosphere as inferred from GPS data. The first-order ionosphere manifests itself as a bulk position shift of the observed sources across an MWA field of view. These effects can be computed from global ionosphere maps provided by GPS analysis centres, namely the CODE. However, for precision radio astronomy applications, data from local GPS networks needs to be incorporated into ionospheric modelling. For GPS observations, the ionospheric parameters are biased by GPS receiver instrument delays, among other effects, also known as receiver DCBs. The receiver DCBs need to be estimated for any non-CODE GPS station used for ionosphere modelling. In this work, single GPS station-based ionospheric modelling is performed at a time resolution of 10 min. Also the receiver DCBs are estimated for selected Geoscience Australia GPS receivers, located at Murchison Radio Observatory, Yarragadee, Mount Magnet and Wiluna. The ionospheric gradients estimated from GPS are compared with that inferred from MWA. The ionospheric gradients at all the GPS stations show a correlation with the gradients observed with the MWA. The ionosphere estimates obtained using GPS measurements show promise in terms of providing calibration information for the MWA.

GLEAM, the GaLactic and Extragalactic All-sky MWA survey, is a survey of the entire radio sky south of declination + 25° at frequencies between 72 and 231 MHz, made with the MWA using a drift scan method that makes efficient use of the MWA’s very large field-of-view. We present the observation details, imaging strategies, and theoretical sensitivity for GLEAM. The survey ran for two years, the first year using 40-kHz frequency resolution and 0.5-s time resolution; the second year using 10-kHz frequency resolution and 2 s time resolution. The resulting image resolution and sensitivity depends on observing frequency, sky pointing, and image weighting scheme. At 154 MHz, the image resolution is approximately 2.5 × 2.2/cos (δ + 26.7°) arcmin with sensitivity to structures up to ~ 10° in angular size. We provide tables to calculate the expected thermal noise for GLEAM mosaics depending on pointing and frequency and discuss limitations to achieving theoretical noise in Stokes I images. We discuss challenges, and their solutions, that arise for GLEAM including ionospheric effects on source positions and linearly polarised emission, and the instrumental polarisation effects inherent to the MWA’s primary beam.

The Murchison Widefield Array is a Square Kilometre Array Precursor. The telescope is located at the Murchison Radio–astronomy Observatory in Western Australia. The MWA consists of 4 096 dipoles arranged into 128 dual polarisation aperture arrays forming a connected element interferometer that cross-correlates signals from all 256 inputs. A hybrid approach to the correlation task is employed, with some processing stages being performed by bespoke hardware, based on Field Programmable Gate Arrays, and others by Graphics Processing Units housed in general purpose rack mounted servers. The correlation capability required is approximately 8 tera floating point operations per second. The MWA has commenced operations and the correlator is generating 8.3 TB day−1 of correlation products, that are subsequently transferred 700 km from the MRO to Perth (WA) in real-time for storage and offline processing. In this paper, we outline the correlator design, signal path, and processing elements and present the data format for the internal and external interfaces.

The Murchison Widefield Array is a new low-frequency interferometric radio telescope built in Western Australia at one of the locations of the future Square Kilometre Array. We describe the automated radio-frequency interference detection strategy implemented for the Murchison Widefield Array, which is based on the aoflagger platform, and present 72–231 MHz radio-frequency interference statistics from 10 observing nights. Radio-frequency interference detection removes 1.1% of the data. Radio-frequency interference from digital TV is observed 3% of the time due to occasional ionospheric or atmospheric propagation. After radio-frequency interference detection and excision, almost all data can be calibrated and imaged without further radio-frequency interference mitigation efforts, including observations within the FM and digital TV bands. The results are compared to a previously published Low-Frequency Array radio-frequency interference survey. The remote location of the Murchison Widefield Array results in a substantially cleaner radio-frequency interference environment compared to Low-Frequency Array’s radio environment, but adequate detection of radio-frequency interference is still required before data can be analysed. We include specific recommendations designed to make the Square Kilometre Array more robust to radio-frequency interference, including: the availability of sufficient computing power for radio-frequency interference detection; accounting for radio-frequency interference in the receiver design; a smooth band-pass response; and the capability of radio-frequency interference detection at high time and frequency resolution (second and kHz-scale respectively).