Deep 3-GHz observations of the Lockman Hole North with the Very Large Array - II. Catalogue and μJy source properties

This is the second of two papers describing the observations and source catalogues derived from sensitive 3-GHz images of the Lockman Hole North using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). We describe the reduction and cataloguing process, which yielded an image with 8 arcsec resolution and instrumental noise of sigma(n) = 1.01 mu Jy beam(-1) rms (before primary-beam corrections) and a catalogue of 558 sources detected above 5 sigma(n). We include details of how we estimate source spectral indices across the 2-GHz VLA bandwidth, finding a median index of -0.76 +/- 0.04. Stacking of source spectra reveals a flattening of spectral index with decreasing flux density. We present a source count derived from the catalogue. We show a traditional count estimate compared with a completely independent estimate made via a P(D) confusion analysis, and find very good agreement. Cross-matches of the catalogue with X-ray, optical, infrared, radio, and redshift catalogues are also presented. The X-ray, optical and infrared data, as well as active galactic nuclei (AGN) selection criteria allow us to classify 10 per cent as radio-loud AGN, 28 per cent as radio-quiet AGN, and 58 per cent as star-forming galaxies, with only 4 per cent unclassified.