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08-01-2015
Today's colloquium: The Era of Time Domain Radio Astronomy
| Submitter: | Assaf Horesh (Weizmann Institute of Science) |
| Description: | A renaissance is taking place in optical and radio astronomy, due to application of rapidly evolving commercial technology. Moreover, by all accounts (including Astro2010, The Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey) this decade is regarded as the decade of time domain astronomy. The dynamic radio sky is seen as a frontier area in astrophysics, ripe for discovery. The synergy between optical and radio astronomy, such as the joint VLA-PTF collaboration, have proved to be fruitful. This includes the earliest radio observation of a Type Ia SN, systematic measurements of circumstellar matter close to the progenitor of core-collapse SNe, and a possible discovery of a new type of relativistic explosion. Furthermore, radio observatories are now taking the role of discovering transients independently. A new generation of radio facilities is being built at decameter and centimeter wavelengths and all of them have identified the exploration of the time domain as Key Science. These include, for example, the LOFAR Transient KSP, ASKAP VAST, MeerKAT ThunderKAT, and WSRT APERTIF. In my talk I will discuss what we have learned in recent years from observations of the dynamic radio sky and will briefly present the future of time-domain radio astronomy. The picture above shows the imaging and radio spectra of the supernova PTF13bvn: the first type Ib SN with a progenitor identification. |
| Copyright: | AH |
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