Radio Sources in the NCP Region Observed with the 21 Centimeter Array
  We present a catalog of 624 radio sources detected around the North Celestial
Pole (NCP) with the 21 Centimeter Array (21CMA), a radio interferometer
dedicated to the statistical measurement of the epoch of reionization (EoR).
The data are taken from a 12 h observation made on 2013 April 13, with a
frequency coverage from 75 to 175 MHz and an angular resolution of ~ 4 arcmin.
The catalog includes flux densities at eight sub-bands across the 21CMA
bandwidth and provides the in-band spectral indices for the detected sources.
To reduce the complexity of interferometric imaging from the so-called "w" term
and ionospheric effects, the present analysis are restricted to the east-west
baselines within 1500 m only. The 624 radio sources are found within 5 degrees
around the NCP down to ~ 0.1 Jy. Our source counts are compared, and also
exhibit a good agreement, with deep low-frequency observations made recently
with the GMRT and MWA. In particular, for fainter radio sources below ~ 1 Jy,
we find a flattening trend of source counts towards lower frequencies. While
the thermal noise (~0.4 mJy) is well controlled to below the confusion limit,
the dynamical range (~10^4) and sensitivity of current 21CMA imaging is largely
limited by calibration and deconvolution errors, especially the grating lobes
of very bright sources, such as 3C061.1, in the NCP field which result from the
regular spacings of the 21CMA. We note that particular attention should be paid
to the extended sources, and their modeling and removals may constitute a large
technical challenge for current EoR experiments. Our analysis may serve as a
useful guide to design of next generation low-frequency interferometers like
the Square Kilometre Array.
