Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy
Despite the first detection of fast radio bursts (FRBs) being as recent as 2007, they have already been proven to be a fantastic tool as a unique cosmological probe. In this chapter, after a brief introduction to FRBs and how they are currently detected, we describe various cosmological questions and how FRB research has both aided previous studies and can continue to do so. Topics include placing constraints on cosmological parameters to understanding the distribution of baryons throughout the Universe. We conclude with some notes on the challenges to be overcome and how to best enable ongoing and future FRB-based studies of cosmology.
The intrinsic width and scattering distributions of fast radio bursts (FRBs) inform on their emission mechanism and local environment, and act as a source of detection bias and, hence, an obfuscating factor when performing FRB population and cosmological studies. Here, we utilise a sample of 29 FRBs with measured high-time-resolution properties and known redshift, which were detected using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) by the Commensal Real-time ASKAP Fast Transients Survey (CRAFT), to model these distributions. Using this sample, we estimate the completeness bias of intrinsic width and scattering measurements, and fit the underlying, de-biased distributions in the host rest-frame. We find no evidence for a down-turn towards high values of the intrinsic distributions of either parameter in the 0.01-40 ms range probed by the data. Rather, the intrinsic scattering distribution at 1 GHz is consistent with a log-uniform distribution above 0.04 ms, while the intrinsic width distribution rises as a Gaussian in log-space in the 0.03-0.3 ms range, and is then log-uniform above that. This is inconsistent with previous works, which assumed that these parameters have lognormal distributions. This confirms that FRB observations are currently strongly width- and scattering-limited, and we encourage FRB searches to be extended to higher values of time-width. It also implies a bias in FRB host galaxy studies, although the form of that bias is uncertain. Finally, we find that our updated width and scattering model - when implemented in the zDM code - produces 10% more FRBs at redshift z=1z=1 than at z=0z=0 when compared to alternative width/scattering models, highlighting that these factors are important to understand when performing FRB population modelling.
The HI mass function is a crucial tool to understand the evolution of the HI content in galaxies over cosmic times. We aim to derive semi-empirical constraints at z0.37z\sim 0.37 by combining literature results on the MM_\star function from optical surveys with recent findings on the MHIMM_{\rm HI}-M_\star scaling relation derived via spectral stacking analysis applied to 21-cm line interferometric data from the MIGHTEE and CHILES surveys, conducted with the MeerKAT and VLA radio telescopes, respectively. We draw synthetic MM_\star samples directly from the publicly-available results underlying the analysis of the COSMOS2020 galaxy photometric sample. Afterwards, we convert MM_\star into MHIM_{\rm HI} using analytical fitting functions to the data points from HI stacking. We then fit a Schechter function to the median HIMF from all the samples via MCMC. We finally derive the posterior distribution for ΩHI\Omega_{\rm HI} by integrating the models for the HIMF built from the posteriors samples of the Schechter parameters. We find a deviation of the HIMF at z0.37z\sim 0.37 from the results at z0z\sim 0 from the ALFALFA survey and at z1z\sim 1 from uGMRT data. Our results for ΩHI\Omega_{\rm HI} are in broad agreement with other literature results, and follow the overall trend on ΩHI\Omega_{\rm HI} as a function of redshift. The derived value ΩHI=(7.020.52+0.59)×104\Omega_{\rm HI}=\left(7.02^{+0.59}_{-0.52}\right)\times10^{-4} at z0.37z\sim 0.37 from the combined analysis deviates at 2.9σ\sim 2.9\sigma from the ALFALFA result at z0z\sim 0. Our findings about the HIMF and ΩHI\Omega_{\rm HI} differ from previous literature results at z0z\sim0 and z1z\sim1, although we are unable to confirm at this stage whether these differences are due to cosmic evolution consistent with a smooth transition of the HI content of galaxies over the last 8 Gyr or due to selection biases and systematics.
In this work we explore the applicability of unsupervised machine learning algorithms to finding radio transients. Facilities such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will provide huge volumes of data in which to detect rare transients; the challenge for astronomers is how to find them. We demonstrate the effectiveness of anomaly detection algorithms using 1.3 GHz light curves from the SKA precursor MeerKAT. We make use of three sets of descriptive parameters ('feature sets') as applied to two anomaly detection techniques in the Astronomaly package and analyse our performance by comparison with citizen science labels on the same dataset. Using transients found by volunteers as our ground truth, we demonstrate that anomaly detection techniques can recall over half of the radio transients in the 10 per cent of the data with the highest anomaly scores. We find that the choice of anomaly detection algorithm makes a minor difference, but that feature set choice is crucial, especially when considering available resources for human inspection and/or follow-up. Active learning, where human labels are given for just 2 per cent of the data, improves recall by up to 20 percentage points, depending on the combination of features and model used. The best performing results produce a factor of 5 times fewer sources requiring vetting by experts. This is the first effort to apply anomaly detection techniques to finding radio transients and shows great promise for application to other datasets, and as a real-time transient detection system for upcoming large surveys.
CASA, the Common Astronomy Software Applications, is the primary data processing software for the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), and is frequently used also for other radio telescopes. The CASA software can handle data from single-dish, aperture-synthesis, and Very Long Baseline Interferometery (VLBI) telescopes. One of its core functionalities is to support the calibration and imaging pipelines for ALMA, VLA, VLA Sky Survey (VLASS), and the Nobeyama 45m telescope. This paper presents a high-level overview of the basic structure of the CASA software, as well as procedures for calibrating and imaging astronomical radio data in CASA. CASA is being developed by an international consortium of scientists and software engineers based at the National Radio Astronomical Observatory (NRAO), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), and the Joint Institute for VLBI European Research Infrastructure Consortium (JIV-ERIC), under the guidance of NRAO.
We present accurate resolved WISEWISE photometry of galaxies in the combined SINGS and KINGFISH sample. The luminosities in the W3 12μ\mum and W4 23μ\mum bands are calibrated to star formation rates (SFRs) derived using the total infrared luminosity, avoiding UV/optical uncertainties due to dust extinction corrections. The W3 relation has a 1-σ\sigma scatter of 0.15 dex over nearly 5 orders of magnitude in SFR and 12μ\mum luminosity, and a range in host stellar mass from dwarf (107^7 M_\odot) to 3×\sim3\timesM_\star (1011.5^{11.5} M_\odot) galaxies. In the absence of deep silicate absorption features and powerful active galactic nuclei, we expect this to be a reliable SFR indicator chiefly due to the broad nature of the W3 band. By contrast the W4 SFR relation shows more scatter (1-σ=\sigma = 0.18 dex). Both relations show reasonable agreement with radio continuum-derived SFRs and excellent accordance with so-called "hybrid" Hα+24μ\alpha + 24 \mum and FUV++24μ\mum indicators. Moreover, the WISEWISE SFR relations appear to be insensitive to the metallicity range in the sample. We also compare our results with IRAS-selected luminous infrared galaxies, showing that the WISEWISE relations maintain concordance, but systematically deviate for the most extreme galaxies. Given the all-sky coverage of WISEWISE and the performance of the W3 band as a SFR indicator, the L12μmL_{12\mu \rm m} SFR relation could be of great use to studies of nearby galaxies and forthcoming large area surveys at optical and radio wavelengths.
We present phase-resolved spectroscopy, photometry and circular spectropolarimetry of the eclipsing polar UZ Fornacis. Doppler tomography of the strongest emission lines using the inside-out projection revealed the presence of three emission regions: from the irradiated face of the secondary star, the ballistic stream and the threading region, and the magnetically confined accretion stream. The total intensity spectrum shows broad emission features and a continuum that rises in the blue. The circularly polarized spectrum shows the presence of three cyclotron emission harmonics at \sim4500 \AA{}, 6000 \AA{} and 7700 \AA{}, corresponding to harmonic numbers 4, 3, and 2, respectively. These features are dominant before the eclipse and disappear after the eclipse. The harmonics are consistent with a magnetic field strength of \sim57 MG. We also present phase-resolved circular and linear photopolarimetry to complement the spectropolarimetry around the times of eclipse. MeerKAT radio observations show a faint source which has a peak flux density of 30.7 ±\pm 5.4 μ\muJy/beam at 1.28 GHz at the position of UZ For.
By combining high-sensitivity LOFAR 150MHz, uGMRT 400MHz and 1,250MHz, GMRT 610MHz, and VLA 5GHz data in the ELAIS-N1 field, we study the radio spectral properties of radio-detected star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at observer-frame frequencies of 150-5,000MHz. We select ~3,500 SFGs that have both LOFAR 150MHz and GMRT 610MHz detections, and obtain a median two-point spectral index of α150610=0.51±0.01\alpha_{150}^{610}=-0.51\pm0.01. The photometric redshift of these SFGs spans z=0.016.21z=0.01-6.21. We also measure the two-point radio spectral indices at 150-400-610-1,250MHz and 150-610-5,000MHz respectively for the GMRT 610-MHz-detected SFGs, and find that, on average, the radio spectrum of SFGs is flatter at low frequency than at high frequency. At observer-frame 150-5,000MHz, we find that the radio spectrum slightly steepens with increasing stellar mass. However, we only find that the radio spectrum flattens with increasing optical depth at VV-band at \nu<1GHz. We suggest that spectral ageing due to the energy loss of CR electrons and thermal free-free absorption could be among the possible main physical mechanisms that drive the above two correlations respectively. In addition, both of these mechanisms could physically explain why the radio spectrum is flatter at low frequency than at high frequency.
We present the first results of the HI intensity mapping power spectrum analysis with the MeerKAT International GigaHertz Tiered Extragalactic Exploration (MIGHTEE) survey. We use data covering \sim4 square degrees in the COSMOS field using a frequency range 962.5 MHz to 1008.42 MHz, equivalent to HI emission in $0.4
We present the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) survey conducted with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP). EMU aims to deliver the touchstone radio atlas of the southern hemisphere. We introduce EMU and review its science drivers and key science goals, updated and tailored to the current ASKAP five-year survey plan. The development of the survey strategy and planned sky coverage is presented, along with the operational aspects of the survey and associated data analysis, together with a selection of diagnostics demonstrating the imaging quality and data characteristics. We give a general description of the value-added data pipeline and data products before concluding with a discussion of links to other surveys and projects and an outline of EMU's legacy value.
(Abridged) The relations between stellar (MM_\ast), gas (MgasM_{\rm gas}), baryonic (Mbar=M+MgasM_{\rm bar} = M_\ast + M_{\rm gas}), and dark matter halo mass (M200M_{200}) provide unique constraints on galaxy formation and cosmology. The shape of the relations constrains how galaxies regulate their growth through gas accretion, star formation, and feedback; their scatter probes the stochasticity of galaxy assembly. Here, we assemble a sample of 49 nearby gas-rich dwarf and massive disc galaxies with unmatched ancillary data. We obtain their gas kinematics and derive their dark matter properties through rotation curve decomposition. Our sample allows us to study the galaxy-halo connection across nearly six orders of magnitude in MM_\ast. We find that the MgasM200M_{\rm gas}-M_{200} relation rises monotonically, with galaxies having around 4 per cent of the average cosmological baryon fraction in cold gas. Contrastingly, the MM200M_\ast-M_{200} relation shows a more complex behaviour. A particularly interesting finding is that of a population of baryon-deficient' dwarfs (BDDs) with stellar masses 11.5\sim 1-1.5 orders of magnitude lower than expected from current models. Yet, baryon-rich galaxies also exist, and we find a large spread in the baryon retention fraction across our galaxies. We compare our findings with semi-analytic and hydrodynamical galaxy formation simulations. While the simulations broadly reproduce most observed features, they struggle to match the BDDs and do not capture the diversity in baryon fractions. Understanding these differences will shed new light on how feedback regulates galaxy formation. Finally, we study the dark matter halo concentration-mass relation. We find that below M2001011MM_{200} \sim 10^{11}\,M_\odot, the concentrations are systematically lower than expected. We discuss whether these results stem from the influence of baryonic physics or the environment.
We describe the scientific goals and survey design of the First Large Absorption Survey in HI (FLASH), a wide field survey for 21-cm line absorption in neutral atomic hydrogen (HI) at intermediate cosmological redshifts. FLASH will be carried out with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope and is planned to cover the sky south of δ+40\delta \approx +40deg at frequencies between 711.5 and 999.5MHz. At redshifts between z=0.4z = 0.4 and 1.01.0 (look back times of 4 - 8Gyr), the HI content of the Universe has been poorly explored due to the difficulty of carrying out radio surveys for faint 21-cm line emission and, at ultra-violet wavelengths, space-borne searches for Damped Lyman-α\alpha absorption in quasar spectra. The ASKAP wide field of view and large spectral bandwidth, in combination with a radio-quiet site, will enable a search for absorption lines in the radio spectra of bright continuum sources over 80% of the sky. This survey is expected to detect at least several hundred intervening 21-cm absorbers, and will produce an HI-absorption-selected catalogue of galaxies rich in cool, star-forming gas, some of which may be concealed from optical surveys. Likewise, at least several hundred associated 21-cm absorbers are expected to be detected within the host galaxies of radio sources at 0.4 < z < 1.0, providing valuable kinematical information for models of gas accretion and jet-driven feedback in radio-loud active galactic nuclei. FLASH will also detect OH 18-cm absorbers in diffuse molecular gas, megamaser OH emission, radio recombination lines, and stacked HI emission.
Most of the super-massive black holes in the Universe accrete material in an obscured phase. While it is commonly accepted that the "dusty torus" is responsible for the nuclear obscuration, its geometrical, physical, and chemical properties are far from being properly understood. In this paper, we take advantage of the multiple X-ray observations taken between 2007 and 2020, as well as of optical to far infra-red (FIR) observations of NGC 6300, a nearby (z=0.0037z=0.0037) Seyfert 2 galaxy. The goal of this project is to study the nuclear emission and the properties of the obscuring medium, through a multi-wavelength study conducted from X-ray to IR. We perform a simultaneous X-ray spectral fitting and optical-FIR spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting to investigate the obscuring torus. For the X-ray spectral fitting, physically motivated torus models, such as borus02, UXClumpy and XClumpy are used. The SED fitting is done using XCIGALE. Through joint analysis, we constrain the physical parameters of the torus and the emission properties of the accreting supermassive black hole. Through X-ray observations taken in the last 13 years, we have not found any significant line-of-sight column density variability for this source, but observed the X-ray flux dropping 4050%\sim40-50\% in 2020 with respect to previous observations. The UXClumpy model predicts the presence of an inner ring of Compton-thick gaseous medium, responsible for the reflection dominated spectra above 10 keV. Through multi-wavelength SED fitting, we measure an Eddington accretion rate λEdd2×103\lambda_{\rm{Edd}}\sim2\times10^{-3}, which falls in the range of the radiatively inefficient accretion solutions.
Upcoming surveys with new radio observatories such as the Square Kilometer Array will generate a wealth of imaging data containing large numbers of radio galaxies. Different classes of radio galaxies can be used as tracers of the cosmic environment, including the dark matter density field, to address key cosmological questions. Classifying these galaxies based on morphology is thus an important step toward achieving the science goals of next generation radio surveys. Radio galaxies have been traditionally been classified as Fanaroff-Riley (FR) I and II, although some exhibit more complex 'bent' morphologies arising from environmental factors or intrinsic properties. In this work we present the FIRST Classifier, an on-line system for automated classification of Compact and Extended radio sources. We developed the FIRST Classifier based on a trained Deep Convolutional Neural Network Model to automate the morphological classification of compact and extended radio sources observed in the FIRST radio survey. Our model achieved an overall accuracy of 97% and a recall of 98%, 100%, 98% and 93% for Compact, BENT, FRI and FRII galaxies respectively. The current version of the FIRST classifier is able to predict the morphological class for a single source or for a list of sources as Compact or Extended (FRI, FRII and BENT).
Using a sample of 67 galaxies from the MIGHTEE Survey Early Science data we study the HI-based baryonic Tully-Fisher relation (bTFr), covering a period of \simone billion years (0z0.0810 \leq z \leq 0.081 ). We consider the bTFr based on two different rotational velocity measures: the width of the global HI profile and Vout\rm V_{out}, measured as the outermost rotational velocity from the resolved HI rotation curves. Both relations exhibit very low intrinsic scatter orthogonal to the best-fit relation (σ=0.07±0.01\sigma_{\perp}=0.07\pm0.01), comparable to the SPARC sample at z0z \simeq 0. The slopes of the relations are similar and consistent with the z0 z \simeq 0 studies (3.660.29+0.353.66^{+0.35}_{-0.29} for $\rm W_{50}and and 3.47^{+0.37}_{-0.30}for for \rm V_{out}$). We find no evidence that the bTFr has evolved over the last billion years, and all galaxies in our sample are consistent with the same relation independent of redshift and the rotational velocity measure. Our results set up a reference for all future studies of the HI-based bTFr as a function of redshift that will be conducted with the ongoing deep SKA pathfinders surveys.
The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) detected an exceptionally short, powerful radio pulse originating from the long-defunct Relay 2 satellite, marking the first remote detection of nanosecond-duration radio emission from an Earth-orbiting object. This finding offers new avenues for remotely monitoring spacecraft health and highlights a new class of terrestrial interference for astrophysical transient surveys.
We present a study of the neutral atomic hydrogen (HI) content of spatially resolved, low-redshift galaxies in the SIMBA cosmological simulations. We create synthetic HI data cubes designed to match observations from the Apertif Medium-Deep HI imaging survey, and follow an observational approach to derive the HI size-mass relation. The HI size-mass relation for SIMBA is in broad agreement with the observed relation to within 0.1 dex, but SIMBA galaxies are slightly smaller than expected at fixed HI mass. We quantify the HI spectral (AfluxA_{\mathrm{flux}}) and morphological (AmodA_{\mathrm{mod}}) asymmetries of the galaxies and motivate standardizing the relative spatial resolution when comparing values in a sample that spans several orders of magnitude in HI mass. Galaxies are classified into three categories (isolated, interacted, or merged) based on their dynamical histories over the preceding ~2 Gyr to contextualize disturbances in their HI reservoirs. We determine that the interacted and merged categories have higher mean asymmetries than the isolated category, with a larger separation between the categories' AmodA_{\mathrm{mod}} distributions than between their AfluxA_{\mathrm{flux}} distributions. For the interacted and merged categories, we find an inverse correlation between baryonic mass and AmodA_{\mathrm{mod}} that is not observed between baryonic mass and AfluxA_{\mathrm{flux}}. These results, coupled with the weak correlation found between AfluxA_{\mathrm{flux}} and AmodA_{\mathrm{mod}}, highlight the limitations of only using AfluxA_{\mathrm{flux}} to infer the HI distributions of spatially unresolved HI detections.
Studying the radio spectral energy distribution (SED) of distant galaxies is essential for understanding their assembly and evolution over cosmic time. We present rest-frame radio SEDs of a sample of 160 starburst galaxies at redshifts 1.5 to 3.5 in the COSMOS field, as part of the MeerKAT International GHz Tiered Extragalactic Exploration (MIGHTEE) project. MeerKAT observations, combined with archival VLA and GMRT data, allow us to determine the integrated mid-radio (1-10 GHz) continuum (MRC) luminosity and magnetic field strength. A Bayesian method is used to model the SEDs and separate free-free and synchrotron emission. We calibrate the star formation rate (SFR) in radio both directly through SED analysis and indirectly via the infrared-radio correlation (IRRC). With a mean synchrotron spectral index of approximately 0.7, we find that the index flattens with redshift and specific SFR, suggesting that cosmic rays are more energetic in the early universe due to higher star formation activity. The magnetic field strength increases with redshift (B is proportional to (1 + z)^0.7) and with star formation rate (B is proportional to SFR^0.3), indicating a small-scale dynamo as the dominant amplification mechanism. Accounting for SED evolution, the IRRC remains redshift-invariant and does not vary with stellar mass at 1.5 < z < 3.5, though the correlation deviates from linearity. Similarly, we show that SFR estimates based on integrated MRC luminosity are also redshift-invariant.
We study the cosmic evolution of the magnetic fields of a large sample of spiral galaxies in a cosmologically representative volume by employing a semi-analytic galaxy formation model and numerical dynamo solver in tandem. We start by deriving time- and radius-dependent galaxy properties using the galform galaxy formation model, which are then fed into the nonlinear mean-field dynamo equations. These are solved to give the large-scale (mean) field as a function of time and galactocentric radius for a thin disc, assuming axial symmetry. A simple prescription for the evolution of the small-scale (random) magnetic field component is also adopted. We find that, while most massive galaxies are predicted to have large-scale magnetic fields at redshift z=0, a significant fraction of them are expected to contain negligible large-scale field. Our model indicates that, for most of the galaxies containing large-scale magnetic fields today, the mean-field dynamo becomes active at z<3. We compute the radial profiles of pitch angle, and find broad agreement with observational data for nearby galaxies.
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