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

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

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Oxford University Press (OUP), Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 3(456), p. 2321-2342

DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stv2797

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

Journal article published in 2015 by 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 and other authors.

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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-min snapshots, each covering 175 deg2. 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+14.7−3.7×10−43.9−3.7+14.7×10−4 d−1 deg−2, and a transient surface density of 1.5 × 10−5 deg−2, at a 7.9-Jy limiting flux density and ∼10-min 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.

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

Abstract