A Wide-Field, Low-Frequency Radio Survey of the Field of M31. I. Construction and Statistical Analysis of the Source Catalog

We present here the results of a 325 MHz radio survey of M31, conducted with the A configuration of the Very Large Array. The survey covered an area of 7.6 deg², and a total of 405 radio sources between <~6" and 170" in extent were mapped with a resolution of 6" and a 1 σ sensitivity of ~0.6 mJy beam^-1. For each source, its morphological class, major axis θ_M, minor axis θ_m, position angle θ_PA, peak flux I, integrated flux density S, spectral index α, and spectral curvature parameter ϕ were calculated. A comparison of the flux and radial distribution-both in the plane of the sky and in the plane of M31-of these sources with those of the XMM-Newton Large-Scale Structure Survey and Westerbork Northern Sky Survey revealed that a vast majority of sources detected are background radio galaxies. As a result of this analysis, we expect that only a few sources are intrinsic to M31. These sources are identified and discussed in an accompanying paper.