arXiv subjects

Adam J. Stewart

Publications and source records attributed to Adam J. Stewart.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

A pilot ASKAP survey for radio transients towards the Galactic Centre

We present the results of a radio transient and polarisation survey towards the Galactic Centre, conducted as part of the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder Variables and Slow Transients pilot survey. The survey region consisted of five fields covering $\sim265\,{\rm deg}^2$ ($350^\circ\lesssim l\lesssim10^\circ$, $\vert b\vert \lesssim 10^\circ$). Each field was observed for 12\,minutes, with between 7 and 9 repeats on cadences of between one day and four months. We detected eight highly variable sources and seven highly circularly-polarised sources (14 unique sources in total). Seven of these sources are known pulsars including the rotating radio transient PSR~J1739--2521 and the eclipsing pulsar PSR~J1723--2837. One of them is a low mass X-ray binary, 4U 1758--25. Three of them are coincident with optical or infrared sources and are likely to be stars. The remaining three may be related to the class of Galactic Centre Radio Transients (including a highly likely one, VAST~J173608.2--321634, that has been reported previously), although this class is not yet understood. In the coming years, we expect to detect $\sim$40 bursts from this kind of source with the proposed four-year VAST survey if the distribution of the source is isotropic over the Galactic fields.

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arXiv2021

The ASKAP Variables and Slow Transients (VAST) Pilot Survey

The Variables and Slow Transients Survey (VAST) on the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) is designed to detect highly variable and transient radio sources on timescales from 5 seconds to $\sim 5$ years. In this paper, we present the survey description, observation strategy and initial results from the VAST Phase I Pilot Survey. This pilot survey consists of $\sim 162$ hours of observations conducted at a central frequency of 888~MHz between 2019 August and 2020 August, with a typical rms sensitivity of 0.24~mJy~beam$^{-1}$ and angular resolution of $12-20$ arcseconds. There are 113 fields, \red{each of which was observed for 12 minutes integration time}, with between 5 and 13 repeats, with cadences between 1 day and 8 months. The total area of the pilot survey footprint is 5\,131 square degrees, covering six distinct regions of the sky. An initial search of two of these regions, totalling 1\,646 square degrees, revealed 28 highly variable and/or transient sources. Seven of these are known pulsars, including the millisecond pulsar J2039--5617. Another seven are stars, four of which have no previously reported radio detection (SCR~J0533--4257, LEHPM~2-783, UCAC3~89--412162 and 2MASS J22414436--6119311). Of the remaining 14 sources, two are active galactic nuclei, six are associated with galaxies and the other six have no multiwavelength counterparts and are yet to be identified.

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arXiv2021

A search for radio afterglows from gamma-ray bursts with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder

We present a search for radio afterglows from long gamma-ray bursts using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP). Our search used the Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey, covering the entire celestial sphere south of declination $+41^\circ$, and three epochs of the Variables and Slow Transients Pilot Survey (Phase 1), covering $\sim 5,000$ square degrees per epoch. The observations we used from these surveys spanned a nine-month period from 2019 April 21 to 2020 January 11. We crossmatched radio sources found in these surveys with 779 well-localised (to $\leq 15''$) long gamma-ray bursts occurring after 2004 and determined whether the associations were more likely afterglow- or host-related through the analysis of optical images. In our search, we detected one radio afterglow candidate associated with GRB 171205A, a local low-luminosity gamma-ray burst with a supernova counterpart SN 2017iuk, in an ASKAP observation 511 days post-burst. We confirmed this detection with further observations of the radio afterglow using the Australia Telescope Compact Array at 859 days and 884 days post-burst. Combining this data with archival data from early-time radio observations, we showed the evolution of the radio spectral energy distribution alone could reveal clear signatures of a wind-like circumburst medium for the burst. Finally, we derived semi-analytical estimates for the microphysical shock parameters of the burst: electron power-law index $p = 2.84$, normalised wind-density parameter $A_* = 3$, fractional energy in electrons $ε_{e} = 0.3$, and fractional energy in magnetic fields $ε_{B} = 0.0002$.

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arXiv2021

A circular polarisation survey for radio stars with the Australian SKA Pathfinder

We present results from a circular polarisation survey for radio stars in the Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS). RACS is a survey of the entire sky south of $δ=+41^\circ$ being conducted with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope (ASKAP) over a 288 MHz wide band centred on 887.5 MHz. The data we analyse includes Stokes I and V polarisation products to an RMS sensitivity of 250 $μ$Jy PSF$^{-1}$. We searched RACS for sources with fractional circular polarisation above 6 per cent, and after excluding imaging artefacts, polarisation leakage, and known pulsars we identified radio emission coincident with 33 known stars. These range from M-dwarfs through to magnetic, chemically peculiar A- and B-type stars. Some of these are well known radio stars such as YZ CMi and CU Vir, but 23 have no previous radio detections. We report the flux density and derived brightness temperature of these detections and discuss the nature of the radio emission. We also discuss the implications of our results for the population statistics of radio stars in the context of future ASKAP and Square Kilometre Array surveys.

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arXiv2020

CHILES VERDES: Radio variability at an unprecedented depth and cadence in the COSMOS field

Although it is well-established that some extragalactic radio sources are time-variable, the properties of this radio variability, and its connection with host galaxy properties, remain to be explored---particularly for faint sources. Here we present an analysis of radio variable sources from the CHILES Variable and Explosive Radio Dynamic Evolution Survey (CHILES VERDES)---a partner project of the 1.4 GHz COSMOS \ion{H}{1} Large Extragalactic Survey (CHILES). CHILES VERDES provides an unprecedented combination of survey depth, duration, and cadence, with 960 hrs of 1--2 GHz continuum VLA data obtained over 209 epochs between 2013 and 2019 in a 0.44 deg$^2$ section of the well-studied extragalactic deep field, COSMOS. We identified 18 moderate-variability sources (showing $10-30\%$ flux density variation) and 40 lower variability sources (2-10$\%$ flux density variation). They are mainly active galactic nuclei (AGN) with radio luminosities in the range of $10^{22}-10^{27}$ W Hz$^{-1}$ based on cross-matching with COSMOS multi-wavelength catalogs. The moderate-variability sources span redshifts $z=0.22-1.56$, have mostly flat radio spectra ($α>-0.5$), and vary on timescales ranging from days to years. Lower-variability sources have similar properties, but have generally higher radio luminosities than the moderate-variability sources, extend to $z = 2.8$, and have steeper radio spectra ($α<-0.5$). No star-forming galaxy showed statistically significant variability in our analysis. The observed variability likely originates from scintillation on short ($\sim$week) timescales, and Doppler-boosted intrinsic AGN variability on long (month--year) timescales.

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arXiv2019

Identifying transient and variable sources in radio images

With the arrival of a number of wide-field snapshot image-plane radio transient surveys, there will be a huge influx of images in the coming years making it impossible to manually analyse the datasets. Automated pipelines to process the information stored in the images are being developed, such as the LOFAR Transients Pipeline, outputting light curves and various transient parameters. These pipelines have a number of tuneable parameters that require training to meet the survey requirements. This paper utilises both observed and simulated datasets to demonstrate different machine learning strategies that can be used to train these parameters. The datasets used are from LOFAR observations and we process the data using the LOFAR Transients Pipeline; however the strategies developed are applicable to any light curve datasets at different frequencies and can be adapted to different automated pipelines. These machine learning strategies are publicly available as Python tools that can be downloaded and adapted to different datasets (https://github.com/AntoniaR/TraP_ML_tools).

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arXiv2016

A LOFAR detection of the low mass young star T Tau at 149 MHz

Radio observations of young stellar objects (YSOs) enable the study of ionised plasma outflows from young protostars via their free-free radiation. Previous studies of the low-mass young system T Tau have used radio observations to model the spectrum and estimate important physical properties of the associated ionised plasma (local electron density, ionised gas content and emission measure). However, without an indication of the low-frequency turnover in the free-free spectrum, these properties remain difficult to constrain. This paper presents the detection of T Tau at 149 MHz with the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) - the first time a YSO has been observed at such low frequencies. The recovered total flux indicates that the free-free spectrum may be turning over near 149 MHz. The spectral energy distribution is fitted and yields improved constraints on local electron density ($(7.2 \pm 2.1)\times10^{3}$ cm$^{-3}$), ionised gas mass ($(1.0 \pm 1.8)\times10^{-6}$ M$_{\odot}$) and emission measure ($(1.67 \pm 0.14)\times10^5$ pc cm$^{-6}$).

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arXiv2016

FR II radio galaxies at low frequencies I: morphology, magnetic field strength and energetics

Due to their steep spectra, low-frequency observations of FR II radio galaxies potentially provide key insights in to the morphology, energetics and spectrum of these powerful radio sources. However, limitations imposed by the previous generation of radio interferometers at metre wavelengths has meant that this region of parameter space remains largely unexplored. In this paper, the first in a series examining FR IIs at low frequencies, we use LOFAR observations between 50 and 160 MHz, along with complementary archival radio and X-ray data, to explore the properties of two FR II sources, 3C452 and 3C223. We find that the morphology of 3C452 is that of a standard FR II rather than of a double-double radio galaxy as had previously been suggested, with no remnant emission being observed beyond the active lobes. We find that the low-frequency integrated spectra of both sources are much steeper than expected based on traditional assumptions and, using synchrotron/inverse-Compton model fitting, show that the total energy content of the lobes is greater than previous estimates by a factor of around 5 for 3C452 and 2 for 3C223. We go on to discuss possible causes of these steeper than expected spectra and provide revised estimates of the internal pressures and magnetic field strengths for the intrinsically steep case. We find that the ratio between the equipartition magnetic field strengths and those derived through synchrotron/inverse-Compton model fitting remains consistent with previous findings and show that the observed departure from equipartition may in some cases provide a solution to the spectral versus dynamical age disparity.

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arXiv2015

The LOFAR Transients Pipeline

Current and future astronomical survey facilities provide a remarkably rich opportunity for transient astronomy, combining unprecedented fields of view with high sensitivity and the ability to access previously unexplored wavelength regimes. This is particularly true of LOFAR, a recently-commissioned, low-frequency radio interferometer, based in the Netherlands and with stations across Europe. The identification of and response to transients is one of LOFAR's key science goals. However, the large data volumes which LOFAR produces, combined with the scientific requirement for rapid response, make automation essential. To support this, we have developed the LOFAR Transients Pipeline, or TraP. The TraP ingests multi-frequency image data from LOFAR or other instruments and searches it for transients and variables, providing automatic alerts of significant detections and populating a lightcurve database for further analysis by astronomers. Here, we discuss the scientific goals of the TraP and how it has been designed to meet them. We describe its implementation, including both the algorithms adopted to maximize performance as well as the development methodology used to ensure it is robust and reliable, particularly in the presence of artefacts typical of radio astronomy imaging. Finally, we report on a series of tests of the pipeline carried out using simulated LOFAR observations with a known population of transients.

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