Abstract
The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) has emerged as the prime telescope for detecting fast radio bursts (FRBs). CHIME/FRB Outriggers will be a dedicated ...very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) instrument consisting of outrigger telescopes at continental baselines working with CHIME and its specialized real-time transient-search backend (CHIME/FRB) to detect and localize FRBs with 50 mas precision. In this paper, we present a minimally invasive clock stabilization system that effectively transfers the CHIME digital backend reference clock from its original GPS-disciplined ovenized crystal oscillator to a passive hydrogen maser. This enables us to combine the long-term stability and absolute time tagging of the GPS clock with the short- and intermediate-term stability of the maser to reduce the clock timing errors between VLBI calibration observations. We validate the system with VLBI-style observations of Cygnus A over a 400 m baseline between CHIME and the CHIME Pathfinder, demonstrating agreement between sky-based and maser-based timing measurements at the 30 ps rms level on timescales ranging from one minute to up to nine days, and meeting the stability requirements for CHIME/FRB Outriggers. In addition, we present an alternate reference clock solution for outrigger stations that lack the infrastructure to support a passive hydrogen maser.
Abstract
We present an investigation into the magnetism of the Magellanic Bridge, carried out through the observation of Faraday rotation towards 167 polarized extragalactic radio sources spanning ...the continuous frequency range of 1.3–3.1 GHz with the Australia Telescope Compact Array. Comparing measured Faraday depth values of sources ‘on’ and ‘off’ the Bridge, we find that the two populations are implicitly different. Assuming that this difference in populations is due to a coherent field in the Magellanic Bridge, the observed Faraday depths indicate a median line-of-sight coherent magnetic-field strength of B∥ ≃ 0.3 μG directed uniformly away from us. Motivated by the varying magnitude of Faraday depths of sources on the Bridge, we speculate that the coherent field observed in the Bridge is a consequence of the coherent magnetic fields from the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds being pulled into the tidal feature. This is the first observation of a coherent magnetic field spanning the entirety of the Magellanic Bridge and we argue that this is a direct probe of a ‘pan-Magellanic’ field.
We present the unambiguous discovery of six new class II methanol maser transitions, three of which are torsionally excited (vt = 1). The newly discovered 6.18 GHz 17−2 → 18−3 E (vt = 1), 7.68 GHz ...124 → 133 A− (vt = 0), 7.83 GHz 124 → 133 A+ (vt = 0), 20.9 GHz 101 → 112 A+ (vt = 1), 44.9 GHz 20 → 31 E (vt = 1), and 45.8 GHz 93 → 102 E (vt = 0) methanol masers were detected toward G 358.931−0.030, where the known 6.68 GHz maser has recently been reported to be undergoing a period flaring. The detection of the vt = 1 torsionally excited lines corroborates one of the missing puzzle pieces in class II maser pumping, but the intensity of the detected emission provides an additional challenge, especially in the case of the very highly excited 6.18 GHz line. Together with the newly detected vt = 0 lines, these observations provide significant new information that can be utilized to improve class II methanol maser modeling. We additionally present detections of 6.68, 19.9, 23.1, and 37.7 GHz class II masers, as well as 36.2 and 44.1 GHz class I methanol masers, and provide upper limits for the 38.3 and 38.5 GHz class II lines. Near simultaneous Australia Telescope Compact Array observations confirm that all 10 of the class II methanol maser detections are co-spatial to ∼0.2 arcsec, which is within the uncertainty of the observations. We find significant levels of linearly polarized emission in the 6.18, 6.67, 7.68, 7.83, 20.9, 37.7, 44.9, and 45.8 GHz transitions, and low levels of circular polarization in the 6.68, 37.7, and 45.8 GHz transitions.
We present observations and analysis of the polarized radio emission from the nearby radio galaxy Fornax A over 1.28-3.1 GHz, using data from the Australia Telescope Compact Array. In this, the first ...of two associated papers, we use modern broadband polarimetric techniques to examine the nature and origin of conspicuous low-polarization (low-p) patches in the lobes. We resolve the (low-p) patches and find that their low fractional polarization is associated with complicated frequency-dependent interference in the polarized signal generated by Faraday effects along the line of sight (LOS). The low-p patches are spatially correlated with interfaces in the magnetic structure of the lobe, across which the LOS-projected magnetic field changes direction. Spatial correlations with the sky-projected magnetic field orientation and structure in total intensity are also identified and discussed. We argue that the (low-p) patches, along with associated reversals in the LOS magnetic field and other related phenomena, are best explained by the presence of of magnetized thermal plasma in the lobes, structured in shells or filaments, and likely advected from the interstellar medium of NCG 1316 or its surrounding intracluster medium. Our study underscores the power and utility of spatially resolved, broadband, full-polarization radio observations to reveal new facets of flow behaviors and magneto-ionic structure in radio lobes and their interplay with the surrounding environment.
The First CHIME/FRB Fast Radio Burst Catalog Amiri, Mandana; Andersen, Bridget C.; Bandura, Kevin ...
The Astrophysical journal. Supplement series,
12/2021, Letnik:
257, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Abstract
We present a catalog of 536 fast radio bursts (FRBs) detected by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment Fast Radio Burst (CHIME/FRB) Project between 400 and 800 MHz from 2018 ...July 25 to 2019 July 1, including 62 bursts from 18 previously reported repeating sources. The catalog represents the first large sample, including bursts from repeaters and nonrepeaters, observed in a single survey with uniform selection effects. This facilitates comparative and absolute studies of the FRB population. We show that repeaters and apparent nonrepeaters have sky locations and dispersion measures (DMs) that are consistent with being drawn from the same distribution. However, bursts from repeating sources differ from apparent nonrepeaters in intrinsic temporal width and spectral bandwidth. Through injection of simulated events into our detection pipeline, we perform an absolute calibration of selection effects to account for systematic biases. We find evidence for a population of FRBs—composing a large fraction of the overall population—with a scattering time at 600 MHz in excess of 10 ms, of which only a small fraction are observed by CHIME/FRB. We infer a power-law index for the cumulative fluence distribution of
α
=
−
1.40
±
0.11
(
stat.
)
−
0.09
+
0.06
(
sys.
)
, consistent with the −3/2 expectation for a nonevolving population in Euclidean space. We find that
α
is steeper for high-DM events and shallower for low-DM events, which is what would be expected when DM is correlated with distance. We infer a sky rate of
820
±
60
(
stat.
)
−
200
+
220
(
sys.
)
/
sky
/
day
above a fluence of 5 Jy ms at 600 MHz, with a scattering time at 600 MHz under 10 ms and DM above 100 pc cm
−3
.
Abstract
We present a Monte Carlo–based population synthesis study of fast radio burst (FRB) dispersion and scattering focusing on the first catalog of sources detected with the Canadian Hydrogen ...Intensity Mapping Experiment Fast Radio Burst (CHIME/FRB) project. We simulate intrinsic properties and propagation effects for a variety of FRB population models and compare the simulated distributions of dispersion measures and scattering timescales with the corresponding distributions from the CHIME/FRB catalog. Our simulations confirm the results of previous population studies, which suggested that the interstellar medium of the host galaxy alone (simulated based on the NE2001 model) cannot explain the observed scattering timescales of FRBs. We therefore consider additional sources of scattering, namely, the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of intervening galaxies and the circumburst medium whose properties are modeled based on typical Galactic plane environments. We find that a population of FRBs with scattering contributed by these media is marginally consistent with the CHIME/FRB catalog. In this scenario, our simulations favor a population of FRBs offset from their galaxy centers over a population that is distributed along the spiral arms. However, if the models proposing the CGM as a source of intense scattering are incorrect, then we conclude that FRBs may inhabit environments with more extreme properties than those inferred for pulsars in the Milky Way.
ABSTRACT
We report the detection of new 12.178, 12.229, 20.347, and 23.121 GHz methanol masers in the massive star-forming region G358.93−0.03, which are flaring on similarly short time-scales (days) ...as the 6.668 GHz methanol masers also associated with this source. The brightest 12.178 GHz channel increased by a factor of over 700 in just 50 d. The masers found in the 12.229 and 20.347 GHz methanol transitions are the first ever reported and this is only the fourth object to exhibit associated 23.121 GHz methanol masers. The 12.178 GHz methanol maser emission appears to have a higher flux density than that of the 6.668 GHz emission, which is unusual. No associated near-infrared flare counterpart was found, suggesting that the energy source of the flare is deeply embedded.
Hydration of the oceanic mantle is a fundamental process of the global water cycle promoting chemical and volumetric changes and facilitating mantle exhumation along detachment faults. At which depth ...these processes occur and how fluids circulate along ductile mantle shear zones are, however, less well constrained. Here we present field, chemical, and microstructural evidence of hydration processes of peridotite mylonites within an upper mantle shear zone from an Alpine ophiolite (Lanzo massif, Italy). Mylonitic and ultramylonitic areas of the anastomosing shear zone are enriched in Cl‐bearing amphibole. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) data indicate the activation of the (100)001 amphibole slip system arguing for synkinematic growth and deformation at temperatures consistent with Mg‐hornblende stability between 800°C and 850°C. High Cl contents in amphibole (0.15–0.61 wt%) as well as oxygen isotope data (δ18Owhole‐rock between 4.4‰ and 4.7‰) indicate accumulation and focusing of seawater‐derived fluid in mylonitic and ultramylonitic domains. Such hydration processes are consistent with strain partitioning between water‐poor (less deformed) and water‐rich (intensely deformed) layers, consistent with changes in olivine and pyroxene crystallographic preferred orientations (CPOs). Our results support recent geophysical data from ultraslow spreading mid‐ocean ridge systems that fluids might penetrate beyond the stability of serpentine to depth between 6 and 15 km. Such peridotite shear zones act as fluid pathways for long‐lived detachment faults or oceanic transform faults, along which upper mantle rocks are exhumed to the seafloor. Fracturing and fluid flow along such peridotite shear zones might be recorded by deep microseismicity along ultraslow spreading ridges.
Key Points
Mylonitic and ultramylonitic domains are enriched in Cl‐bearing Mg‐hornblende (Mg‐Hbl)
Synkinematic Mg‐hornblende was formed between 800°C and 850°C
Mg‐Hbl mylonites can be the geological expression of microseismicity in mid‐ocean ridges and act as fluid pathways along detachment faults
ABSTRACT
We present timing solutions and analyses of 11 pulsars discovered by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). These pulsars were discovered using an ultrawide ...bandwidth receiver in drift-scan observations made during the commissioning phase of FAST, and were then confirmed and timed using the 64-m Parkes Radio Telescope. Each pulsar has been observed over a span of at least one year. Highlighted discoveries include PSR J0344−0901, which displays mode-changing behaviour and may belong to the class of so-called swooshing pulsars (alongside PSRs B0919+06 and B1859+07); PSR J0803−0942, whose emission is almost completely linearly polarized; and PSRs J1900−0134 and J1945+1211, whose well-defined polarization angle curves place stringent constraints on their emission geometry. We further discuss the detectability of these pulsars by earlier surveys, and highlight lessons learned from our work in carrying out confirmation and monitoring observations of pulsars discovered by a highly sensitive telescope, many of which may be applicable to next-generation pulsar surveys. This paper marks one of the first major releases of FAST-discovered pulsars, and paves the way for future discoveries anticipated from the Commensal Radio Astronomy FAST Survey.
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