Absolute Calibration of the Radio Astronomy Flux Density Scale at 22 to
  43 GHz Using Planck
  The Planck mission detected thousands of extragalactic radio sources at
frequencies from 28 to 857 GHz. Planck's calibration is absolute (in the sense
that it is based on the satellite's annual motion around the Sun and the
temperature of the cosmic microwave background), and its beams are well
characterized at sub-percent levels. Thus Planck's flux density measurements of
compact sources are absolute in the same sense. We have made coordinated VLA
and ATCA observations of 65 strong, unresolved Planck sources in order to
transfer Planck's calibration to ground-based instruments at 22, 28, and 43
GHz. The results are compared to microwave flux density scales currently based
on planetary observations. Despite the scatter introduced by the variability of
many of the sources, the flux density scales are determined to 1-2% accuracy.
At 28 GHz, the flux density scale used by the VLA runs 3.6% +- 1.0% below
Planck values; at 43 GHz, the discrepancy increases to 6.2% +- 1.4% for both
ATCA and the VLA.
