Redshift Search Receiver Sensitivity

The Redshift Search Receiver is designed to conduct sensitive broad-band (73 – 111GHz) spectroscopic observations of galaxies in the 3mm atmospheric window with a fixed low spectral resolution (31 MHz). A particular advantage of the Redshift Search Receiver is it´s ability to detect molecular gas in galaxies over a wide redshift-range without any prior need to first identify the optical, infrared or radio counterpart, and then to measure an optical spectroscopic redshift before tuning a millimeter-wavelength receiver to the redshifted frequency of a known molecular-line transition.

The Redshift Search Receiver sensitivity in 10 minutes of integration can be expressed as:

\sigma = \left({T_{\rm sys}(\rm K)\over 100}\right)\, \sqrt{\left({100 \over \Delta V({\rm km \ s^{-1}})}\right)}\, \sqrt{\left({10\over t_{\rm int}({\rm min})}\right)} mK  

where T_{\rm sys} is system temperature in K, \Delta V is the velocity resolution obtained in km/s, and t_{\rm int} is integration time in minutes.

Expressed in mJy the same equation can be written as:

\sigma = 3.2 \left({T_{\rm sys}(\rm K)\over 100}\right)\, \sqrt{\left({100 \over \Delta V({\rm km \ s^{-1}})}\right)}\, \sqrt{\left({10 \over t_{\rm int}({\rm min})}\right)}\,} mJy.

Calculators

Sensitivity (σ) in mJy.
Sensitivity (σ) in mK.
Integration time for flux units.
Integration time for temperature units