CHILES VERDES: The Transient Radio Sky at Incomparable Depth

Michigan State University, East Lansing MI

Investigators

Abstract

Most astronomical phenomena change slowly, over millions or billions of years, but the most violent events in the universe - like supernovae, star mergers, and black hole outbursts - can vary on timescales of just days. This program will explore rapid variations in the sky at radio wavelengths, searching for new classes of violent events and informing such long-standing questions as the origin of the elements and the production of near-light-speed jets. By capitalizing on the dramatically improved sensitivity of the upgraded Very Large Array in New Mexico and "piggy-backing" off an approved radio observation, which will stare at one place in the sky for 42 days, the PI and her collaborators will obtain the most sensitive survey ever for variable and transient radio sources. PI Chomiuk is actively engaged in undergraduate education and public outreach at Michigan State University. As director of the MSU Campus Observatory, she leads monthly public observing nights and special hands-on events for the broader Michigan community, highlighting dynamic celestial events like bright supernovae and novae. As part of this program, she will expand the Observatory's public programs. In addition, she will educate undergraduates in career paths and broaden their participation in community educating. She will work with undergraduates on authentic research experiences, founded on data from the campus observatory and national radio telescope facilities. The PI and her collaborators will conduct the most sensitive radio transient survey to date. They will use data from the CHILES program, the radio equivalent of the Hubble Deep Field. The JVLA will observe a single field away from the galactic plane for 1002 hours in total between 2013 and 2016 in order to measure neutral hydrogen in other galaxies. CHILES VERDES is an adjunct program to use the time-resolved continuum (0.9-1.8 GHz) data to search for radio transients. Some of the most violent events in the universe should produce radio transients: supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, mergers of compact objects, tidal disruption events, and more. With the sensitivity of the VLA, a 3-year timeline, a well characterized field, and contemporaneous observations at other wavelengths, they expect to increase the sample of radio transients by several orders of magnitude over the small handful previously observed.