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LOFAR-UK 2016-2019: LOFAR-UK Compute Facility

Lead Research Organisation: University of Hertfordshire
Department Name: School of Physics, Astronomy and Maths

Abstract

LOFAR, the LOw-Frequency ARray, is the world's most sensitive radio telescope operating at metre wavelengths. It is now producing extremely sensitive and detailed images of the radio sky at these wavelengths, but the data reduction process is complex. The proposed funding allows us to maintain and expand an existing computing facility for the use of UK astronomers involved in LOFAR.

Planned Impact

See main LOFAR-UK proposal for details.

Publications

10 25 50
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Van Eck C. L. (2018) Polarized point sources in the LOFAR Two-meter Sky Survey: A preliminary catalog in ArXiv e-prints

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Tasse C. (2017) Faceting for direction-dependent spectral deconvolution in ArXiv e-prints

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Balboni M (2024) CHEX-MATE: A LOFAR pilot X-ray - radio study on five radio halo clusters in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Dabhade P (2020) Giant radio galaxies in the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey I. Radio and environmental properties in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Hardcastle M (2019) Radio-loud AGN in the first LoTSS data release The lifetimes and environmental impact of jet-driven sources in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Bruno L (2024) Ageing and dynamics of the tailed radio galaxies in Abell 2142 in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Gloudemans A (2022) Discovery of 24 radio-bright quasars at 4.9 = z = 6.6 using low-frequency radio observations in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Croston J (2019) The environments of radio-loud AGN from the LOFAR Two-Metre Sky Survey (LoTSS) in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Ignesti A (2023) Radio continuum tails in ram pressure-stripped spiral galaxies: Experimenting with a semi-empirical model in Abell 2255 in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Morabito L (2019) The origin of radio emission in broad absorption line quasars: Results from the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Miskolczi A (2019) CHANG-ES XII A LOFAR and VLA view of the edge-on star-forming galaxy NGC 3556 in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Mooney S (2019) Blazars in the LOFAR Two-Metre Sky Survey first data release in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Zhang X (2023) The Planck clusters in the LOFAR sky III. LoTSS-DR2: Dynamic states and density fluctuations of the intracluster medium in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Osinga E (2020) Alignment in the orientation of LOFAR radio sources in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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De Gasperin F (2021) The LOFAR LBA Sky Survey I. Survey description and preliminary data release in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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De Gasperin F (2023) The LOFAR LBA Sky Survey II. First data release in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Gajovic L (2023) Weakly interacting massive particle cross section limits from LOFAR observations of dwarf spheroidal galaxies in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Candini S (2023) New filamentary remnant radio emission and duty cycle constraints in the radio galaxy NGC 6086 in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Kondapally R (2021) The LOFAR Two-meter Sky Survey: Deep Fields Data Release 1 III. Host-galaxy identifications and value added catalogues in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Gürkan G (2019) LoTSS/HETDEX: Optical quasars I. Low-frequency radio properties of optically selected quasars in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Pasini T (2022) Particle re-acceleration and diffuse radio sources in the galaxy cluster Abell 1550 in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Hutschenreuter S (2022) The Galactic Faraday rotation sky 2020 in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Bruno L (2023) A three-component giant radio halo: The puzzling case of the galaxy cluster Abell 2142 in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Hoeft M (2021) Abell 1430: A merging cluster with exceptional diffuse radio emission in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Hardcastle M (2021) The contribution of discrete sources to the sky temperature at 144 MHz in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Oei M (2023) Measuring the giant radio galaxy length distribution with the LoTSS in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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O'Sullivan S (2019) The intergalactic magnetic field probed by a giant radio galaxy in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Botteon A (2022) The Planck clusters in the LOFAR sky I. LoTSS-DR2: New detections and sample overview in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Heesen V (2022) Nearby galaxies in the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey I. Insights into the non-linearity of the radio-SFR relation in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Botteon A (2021) Nonthermal phenomena in the center of Abell 1775 An 800 kpc head-tail, revived fossil plasma and slingshot radio halo in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Brienza M (2023) AGN feedback in an infant galaxy cluster: LOFAR- Chandra view of the giant FRII radio galaxy J103025+052430 at z = 1.7 in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Wang L (2021) The bright end of the infrared luminosity functions and the abundance of hyperluminous infrared galaxies in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Davis I (2021) Large closed-field corona of WX Ursae Majoris evidenced from radio observations in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Roberts I (2021) LoTSS jellyfish galaxies II. Ram pressure stripping in groups versus clusters in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Gloudemans A (2023) Plausible association of distant late M dwarfs with low-frequency radio emission in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Balboni M (2023) Constraints on the magnetic field in the intercluster bridge A399-A401 in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Slob M (2022) Extragalactic peaked-spectrum radio sources at low frequencies are young radio galaxies in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Di Gennaro G (2023) The diffuse radio emission in the high-redshift cluster PSZ2 G091.83+26.11: Total intensity and polarisation analysis with Very Large Array 1-4 GHz observations in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Edler H (2024) ViCTORIA project: The LOFAR view of environmental effects in Virgo cluster star-forming galaxies in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Wolnik K (2024) Spectral aging analysis of the 3C 219 double-double radio galaxy in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Van Weeren R (2024) LOFAR high-band antenna observations of the Perseus cluster The discovery of a giant radio halo in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Di Gennaro G (2021) A LOFAR-uGMRT spectral index study of distant radio halos in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Osinga E (2024) Probing particle acceleration in Abell 2256: From 16 MHz to gamma rays in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Maschmann D (2022) Central star formation in double-peak, gas-rich radio galaxies in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Bruno L (2023) The Planck clusters in the LOFAR sky II. LoTSS-DR2: Recovering diffuse extended emission with LOFAR in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Carretti E (2025) The nature of LOFAR rotation measures and new constraints on magnetic fields in cosmic filaments and on magnetogenesis scenarios in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Quiroga-Nuñez L (2020) Differences in radio emission from similar M dwarfs in the binary system Ross 867-8 in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Gloudemans A (2023) No strong radio absorption detected in the low-frequency spectra of radio-loud quasars at z > 5.6 in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Di Gennaro G (2025) Limits and challenges of the detection of cluster-scale diffuse radio emission at high redshift The Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey (MaDCoWS) in LoTSS-DR2 in Astronomy & Astrophysics

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Dabhade P (2022) Barbell-shaped giant radio galaxy with ~100 kpc kink in the jet in Astronomy & Astrophysics

 
Description The LOFAR-UK compute facility was used by scientists round the UK to process LOFAR individual observations and surveys data. It underpinned the release of LoTSS data release 1, with many tens of papers on active galaxies, clusters, star-forming galaxies being produced as a direct result.
Exploitation Route Astronomers round the world are building on the newly processed data, including the original team.
Sectors Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software)

Other
URL https://lofar-surveys.org/
 
Title 144MHz radio fluxes of z>5 quasars 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'Low frequency radio properties of the z > 5 quasar population.' (bibcode: 2021A&A...656A.137G) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/656/A137
 
Title 24 new radio-bright quasars spectra 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'Discovery of 24 radio-bright quasars at 4.9 <= z <= 6.6 using low-frequency radio observations.' (bibcode: 2022A&A...668A..27G) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/668/A27
 
Title 2A0335+096 LOFAR images 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'A LOFAR view into the stormy environment of the galaxy cluster 2A0335+096.' (bibcode: 2022A&A...659A..20I) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/659/A20
 
Title 3C295 LOFAR, MERLIN and VLA images 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'Spectral analysis of spatially-resolved 3C295 (sub-arc second resolution) with the International LOFAR Telescope.' (bibcode: 2022A&A...658A..10B) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/658/A10
 
Title ACS J1149.5+2223 LOFAR and VLA images 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The LOFAR and JVLA view of the distant steep spectrum radio halo in MACS J1149.5+2223.' (bibcode: 2021A&A...650A..44B) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/650/A44
 
Title Abell 2256 radio images 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'Deep low-frequency radio observations of Abell 2256. II: The ultra steep spectrum radio halo.' (bibcode: 2023A&A...669A...1R) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/669/A1
 
Title Abell 2626 radio source LOFAR image at 144MHz 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The great Kite in the sky: A LOFAR observation of the radio source in Abell 2626.' (bibcode: 2020A&A...643A.172I) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2020 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/643/A172
 
Title Broad absorption line quasars in LDR1 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The origin of radio emission in broad absorption line quasars: Results from the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey.' (bibcode: 2019A&A...622A..15M) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/622/A15
 
Title ClG 0217+70 radio images 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'A 3.5 Mpc long radio relic in the galaxy cluster ClG 0217+70.' (bibcode: 2021A&A...656A.154H) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/656/A154
 
Title Comoving IGMF redshift evolution 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society with title ' The redshift evolution of extragalactic magnetic fields.' (bibcode: 2022MNRAS.515..256P) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/MNRAS/515/256
 
Title H-ATLAS NGP LOFAR radio catalogue 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society with title ' LOFAR/H-ATLAS: a deep low-frequency survey of the Herschel-ATLAS North Galactic Pole field.' (bibcode: 2016MNRAS.462.1910H) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2018 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/MNRAS/462/1910
 
Title IGMF limits with LOFAR 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society with title ' New constraints on the magnetization of the cosmic web using LOFAR Faraday rotation observations.' (bibcode: 2020MNRAS.495.2607O) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/MNRAS/495/2607
 
Title LOFAR LBA Sky Survey First Release 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The LOFAR LBA Sky Survey. II. First data release.' (bibcode: 2023A&A...673A.165D) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2023 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/673/A165
 
Title LOFAR LBA Sky Survey. I. 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The LOFAR LBA Sky Survey. I. Survey description and preliminary data release.' (bibcode: 2021A&A...648A.104D) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/648/A104
 
Title LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS) DR2 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS). V. Second data release.' (bibcode: 2022A&A...659A...1S) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/659/A1
 
Title LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey DR1 source catalog 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey. II. First data release.' (bibcode: 2019A&A...622A...1S) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/622/A1
 
Title LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey Deep Fields DR1 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The LOFAR Two Metre Sky Survey: Deep Fields Data Release 1. III. Host-galaxy identifications and value added catalogues.' (bibcode: 2021A&A...648A...3K) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/648/A3
 
Title LOFAR observations XMM-LSS field 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'LOFAR observations of the XMM-LSS field.' (bibcode: 2019A&A...622A...4H) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/622/A4
 
Title LoTSS Bootes Deep Field Giant Radio Galaxies 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society with title ' Giant radio galaxies in the LoTSS Bootes Deep Field.' (bibcode: 2022MNRAS.515.2032S) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/MNRAS/515/2032
 
Title LoTSS-DR2 sample overview release 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The Planck clusters in the LOFAR sky. I. LoTSS-DR2: New detections and sample overview.' (bibcode: 2022A&A...660A..78B) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/660/A78
 
Title LoTSS/HETDEX. Optical quasars. I. 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'LoTSS/HETDEX: Optical quasars. I. Low-frequency radio properties of optically selected quasars.' (bibcode: 2019A&A...622A..11G) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/622/A11
 
Title NGC 507 144-675MHz and X-ray images 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'The galaxy group NGC 507: newly detected AGN remnant plasma transported by sloshing.' (bibcode: 2022A&A...661A..92B) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/661/A92
 
Title Nearby galaxies in LoTSS-DR2 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'Nearby galaxies in the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey. I. Insights into the non-linearity of the radio-SFR relation.' (bibcode: 2022A&A...664A..83H) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/664/A83
 
Title Properties of the 2060 giant radio galaxies 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'Measuring the giant radio galaxy length distribution with the LoTSS.' (bibcode: 2023A&A...672A.163O) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2023 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/672/A163
 
Title Radio galaxy alignment in ELAIS-N1 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'Revisiting the alignment of radio galaxies in the ELAIS-N1 field.' (bibcode: 2023A&A...672A.178S) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2023 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/672/A178
 
Title Reproduction package for 'Limits on long-timescale radio transients at 150 MHz using theTGSS ADR1 and LoTSS DR2 catalogues' 
Description This is a basic reproduction package for 'Limits on long-timescale radio transients at 150 MHz using theTGSS ADR1 and LoTSS DR2 catalogues' by de Ruiter et al (2021). It aims to provide the most important data products to check and reproduce the main results of the paper. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://zenodo.org/record/4745527
 
Title Reproduction package for 'Limits on long-timescale radio transients at 150 MHz using theTGSS ADR1 and LoTSS DR2 catalogues' 
Description This is a basic reproduction package for 'Limits on long-timescale radio transients at 150 MHz using theTGSS ADR1 and LoTSS DR2 catalogues' by de Ruiter et al (2021). It aims to provide the most important data products to check and reproduce the main results of the paper. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2021 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://zenodo.org/record/4745528
 
Title VLA double-double radio galaxy candidates images 
Description VizieR online Data Catalogue associated with article published in journal Astronomy & Astrophysics with title 'LoTSS DR1: Double-double radio galaxies in the HETDEX field.' (bibcode: 2019A&A...622A..13M) 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/622/A13
 
Title LOFAR Tier 1 pipeline 
Description A fully automatic LOFAR data reduction pipeline for imaging. 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2017 
Open Source License? Yes  
Impact A number of publications have already used this software. 
URL https://github.com/mhardcastle/ddf-pipeline