LOFAR MSSS: detection of a low-frequency radio transient in 400 h of monitoring of the North Celestial Pole

A. J. Stewart; R. P. Fender; J. W. Broderick; T. E. Hassall; T. Muñoz-Darias; A. Rowlinson; J. D. Swinbank; T. D. Staley; G. J. Molenaar; B. Scheers; T. L. Grobler; M. Pietka; G. Heald; J. P. Mckean; M. E. Bell; A. Bonafede; R. P. Breton; D. Carbone; Y. Cendes; A. O. Clarke; Stéphane Corbel; F. De gasperin; J. Eislöffel; H. Falcke; C. Ferrari; Jean-Mathias Grießmeier; M. J. Hardcastle; V. Heesen; J. W. T. Hessels; A. Horneffer; M. Iacobelli; P. Jonker; A. Karastergiou; G. Kokotanekov; V. I. Kondratiev; M. Kuniyoshi; C. J. Law; J. Van leeuwen; S. Markoff; J. C. A. Miller-Jones; D. Mulcahy; E. Orru; M. Pandey-Pommier; L. Pratley; E. Rol; H. J. A. Röttgering; A. M. M. Scaife; A. Shulevski; C. A. Sobey; B. W. Stappers; C. Tasse; A. J. Van der horst; S. Van velzen; R. J. Van weeren; R. A. M. J. Wijers; R. Wijnands; M. Wise; P. Zarka; A. Alexov; J. Anderson; A. Asgekar; I. M. Avruch; M. J. Bentum; G. Bernardi; P. Best; F. Breitling; M. Brüggen; H. R. Butcher; B. Ciardi; J. E. Conway; A. Corstanje; E. De geus; A. Deller; S. Duscha; W. Frieswijk; M. A. Garrett; A. W. Gunst; M. P. Van haarlem; M. Hoeft; J. Hörandel; E. Juette; G. Kuper; M. Loose; P. Maat; R. Mcfadden; D. Mckay-Bukowski; J. Moldon; H. Munk; M. J. Norden; H. Paas; A. G. Polatidis; D. Schwarz; J. Sluman; O. Smirnov; M. Steinmetz; S. Thoudam; M. C. Toribio; R. Vermeulen; C. Vocks; S. J. Wijnholds; O. Wucknitz; S. Yatawatta

LOFAR MSSS: detection of a low-frequency radio transient in 400 h of monitoring of the North Celestial Pole

A. J. Stewart ¹ R. P. Fender ² J. W. Broderick ² T. E. Hassall ³ T. Muñoz-Darias ⁴ A. Rowlinson ⁵ J. D. Swinbank ⁶ T. D. Staley ⁷ G. J. Molenaar ⁶ B. Scheers ⁶ T. L. Grobler ⁸ M. Pietka ⁹ G. Heald ⁵ J. P. Mckean ⁵ M. E. Bell ¹⁰ A. Bonafede ¹¹ R. P. Breton ³ D. Carbone ¹² Y. Cendes ⁶ A. O. Clarke ³ Stéphane Corbel ^{13, 14} F. De gasperin ¹⁵ J. Eislöffel ¹⁶ H. Falcke ^{17, 5} C. Ferrari ¹⁸ Jean-Mathias Grießmeier ^{14, 19} M. J. Hardcastle ²⁰ V. Heesen ⁴ J. W. T. Hessels ¹² A. Horneffer ²¹ M. Iacobelli ²² P. Jonker ²³ A. Karastergiou ⁹ G. Kokotanekov ⁶ V. I. Kondratiev ⁵ M. Kuniyoshi ²¹ C. J. Law ⁶ J. Van leeuwen ⁵ S. Markoff ⁶ J. C. A. Miller-Jones ²⁴ D. Mulcahy ³ E. Orru ⁵ M. Pandey-Pommier ²⁵ L. Pratley ²⁶ E. Rol ⁶ H. J. A. Röttgering ²² A. M. M. Scaife ⁴ A. Shulevski ²⁷ C. A. Sobey ²¹ B. W. Stappers ³ C. Tasse ^{28, 29} A. J. Van der horst ³⁰ S. Van velzen ¹⁷ R. J. Van weeren ³¹ R. A. M. J. Wijers ³² R. Wijnands ⁶ M. Wise ^{6, 5} P. Zarka ³³ A. Alexov ⁵ J. Anderson ³⁴ A. Asgekar ⁵ I. M. Avruch ³⁵ M. J. Bentum ⁵ G. Bernardi ³⁶ P. Best ³⁷ F. Breitling ³⁸ M. Brüggen ¹¹ H. R. Butcher ⁵ B. Ciardi ³⁹ J. E. Conway ⁴⁰ A. Corstanje ¹⁷ E. De geus ⁵ A. Deller ⁵ S. Duscha ⁵ W. Frieswijk ⁵ M. A. Garrett ^{22, 5} A. W. Gunst ⁵ M. P. Van haarlem ⁵ M. Hoeft ¹⁶ J. Hörandel ¹⁷ E. Juette ⁴¹ G. Kuper ⁵ M. Loose ⁵ P. Maat ⁵ R. Mcfadden ⁴² D. Mckay-Bukowski ⁴³ J. Moldon ^{44, 45} H. Munk ⁴² M. J. Norden ⁵ H. Paas ⁴⁶ A. G. Polatidis ⁵ D. Schwarz ⁴⁷ J. Sluman ⁵ O. Smirnov ⁴⁸ M. Steinmetz ⁴⁹ S. Thoudam ¹⁷ M. C. Toribio ⁵⁰ R. Vermeulen ⁵ C. Vocks ⁵¹ S. J. Wijnholds ⁵ O. Wucknitz ⁵² S. Yatawatta ⁵

1 LASP - Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics [Boulder]

2 University of Southampton

3 Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics

4 School of Physics and Astronomy [Southampton]

5 ASTRON - Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy

6 AI PANNEKOEK - Astronomical Institute Anton Pannekoek

7 Oxford Astrophysics

8 Rhodes University, Grahamstown

9 Oxford Astrophysics

10 CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science

11 Jacobs University [Bremen]

12 UvA - University of Amsterdam [Amsterdam]

13 AIM - UMR 7158 - UMR E 9005 - Astrophysique Interprétation Modélisation

14 USN - Unité Scientifique de la Station de Nançay

15 UHH - Universität Hamburg

16 TLS - Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg

17 Radboud university [Nijmegen]

18 Département de Géologie

19 LPC2E - Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace

20 UH - University of Hertfordshire [Hatfield]

21 MPIFR - Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie

22 Leiden Observatory [Leiden]

23 IMAPP - Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics

24 Curtin University [Perth]

25 CRAL - Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon

26 Victoria University of Wellington

27 Kapteyn Astronomical Institute [Groningen]

28 LESIA - Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique

29 SKA South Africa

30 Department of Mathematics, The George Washington University

31 CfA - Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

32 Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam

33 OP - Observatoire de Paris - Site de Paris

34 Institute for Mathematics Applied to Geoscience

35 SRON - SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research

36 LPNHE - Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Énergies

37 University of Edinburgh

38 AIP - Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam

39 Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics

40 Onsala Space Observatory, Dept. of Radio and Space Science, Chalmers University of Technology

41 Ruhr-Universität Bochum [Bochum]

42 Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy ( ASTRON )

43 University of Oulu

44 The Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), 7990-AA Dwingeloo, Netherlands

45 Departament d'Astronomia i Meteorologia [Barcelona]

46 Center for Information Technology CIT

47 Interactions Son Musique Mouvement

STMS - Sciences et Technologies de la Musique et du Son

48 Rhodes University

49 DSMZ - Leibniz-Institut DSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH / Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures

50 Finca El Encin

51 AIP - Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam

52 AlfA - Argelander-Institut für Astronomie

Abstract : We present the results of a four-month campaign searching for low-frequency radio transients near the North Celestial Pole with the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR), as part of the Multifrequency Snapshot Sky Survey (MSSS). The data were recorded between 2011 December and 2012 April and comprised 2149 11-minute snapshots, each covering 175 deg^2. We have found one convincing candidate astrophysical transient, with a duration of a few minutes and a flux density at 60 MHz of 15-25 Jy. The transient does not repeat and has no obvious optical or high-energy counterpart, as a result of which its nature is unclear. The detection of this event implies a transient rate at 60 MHz of 3.9 (+14.7, -3.7) x 10^-4 day^-1 deg^-2, and a transient surface density of 1.5 x 10^-5 deg^-2, at a 7.9-Jy limiting flux density and ~10-minute time-scale. The campaign data were also searched for transients at a range of other time-scales, from 0.5 to 297 min, which allowed us to place a range of limits on transient rates at 60 MHz as a function of observation duration.

Keywords : instrumentation: interferometers – techniques: image processing – radio continuum: general.

Document type :

Journal articles

Domain :

Sciences of the Universe [physics]

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