Herschel SPIRE FTS spectral mapping calibration

Abstract

The Herschel SPIRE Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) performs spectral imaging in the 447–1546 GHz band. It can observe in three spatial sampling modes: sparse mode, with a single pointing on sky, or intermediate or full modes with 1 and 1/2 beam spacing, respectively. In this paper, we investigate the uncertainty and repeatability for fully sampled FTS mapping observations. The repeatability is characterised using nine observations of the Orion Bar. Metrics are derived based on the ratio of the measured intensity in each observation compared to that in the combined spectral cube from all observations. The mean relative deviation is determined to be within 2 %, and the pixel-by-pixel scatter is ∼ 7 %. The scatter increases towards the edges of the maps. The uncertainty in the frequency scale is also studied, and the spread in the line centre velocity across the maps is found to be ∼ 15 km s^(−1). Other causes of uncertainty are also discussed including the effect of pointing and the additive uncertainty in the continuum.

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