SMGPS compact source catalogue

We extract 510599 compact sources, with areas less than five 8{arcsec} beams, from the survey maps covering the regions 252{deg}<l<358{deg} and 2{deg}<l<61{deg} at |b|<=1.5{deg}, which have an angular resolution of 8{arcsec} and a sensitivity of ~10-30{mu}Jy/beam. In this paper, we describe the source identification and characterisation methods, present the quality assurance of the catalogue, explore the nature of the catalogue sources, and present initial science highlights.

We limit our catalogue to sources with a signal-to-noise ratio >=5, as the catalogue is ~90 per cent complete, and has a false positive rate of less than 1 per cent at this threshold. The bulk of the catalogue sources are previously unknown to the literature, with the majority of unknown sources at sub-mJy levels. Initial science highlights from the catalogue include the detection of 213 radio quiet WISE HII region candidates, previously undetected in radio continuum studies.