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The Decade of Transients

The Decade of Transients. S. R. Kulkarni California Institute of Technology Pasadena, USA. Organization of talk. The coming of age of transients PTF & CSS: Examples of on-going transient program Crystal ball gazing: Next generation transient facility (facilities)

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The Decade of Transients

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  1. The Decade of Transients S. R. Kulkarni California Institute of Technology Pasadena, USA

  2. Organization of talk • The coming of age of transients • PTF & CSS: Examples of on-going transient program • Crystal ball gazing: Next generation transient facility (facilities) • Role of space-based telescopes

  3. Technology is driving Transients • At optical wavelengths, Moore’s law has enabled wide field and synoptic surveys • Near-IR lagging behind (sensors) • Radio astronomy is undergoing a renaissance, also due to Moore’s law • LOFAR, ASKAP • ATA (new RF technologies) • MeerKAT (new dish technology)

  4. Catalina Sky Survey • 60-cm Schmidt telescope (Catalina Mt) • Single CCD • 800 square degrees per night • Mt. Lemmon 60-inch telescope • 1 square degree mosaic imager • Siding Spring 50-cm Uppsala Schmidt

  5. 2008 TC3

  6. Frontier Fields • High Energy Neutrino Astronomy • GW Sources (100 Hz band) • eLIGO (2009), aLIGO (2013) • Ultra-high energy cosmic rays • GZK cutoff (proton-photon pion production) • Transients in the Nova-Supernova Gap

  7. Palomar 48-inch Palomar 60-inch A Novel Two-telescope Approcach

  8. PTF collaboration Caltech, LCOGT, Berkeley, LBL, IPAC, Columbia, Oxford, Weizmann

  9. PTF projects 5 day cadence SNe search (~40%) <1 day cadence transients search (~40%) Orion field (~10%) Ha all-sky survey (~10%)

  10. Statistics of Core Collapse • Dwarf galaxies: • Over-abundance of IIb • No normal Ic • BL Ic • Ib • Large Galaxies: • Over-abundance of II Arcavi

  11. UV spectroscopy of local Ia Nugent, Ellis, Howell, Sullivan …

  12. UV spectroscopy of local Ia Nugent, Ellis, Howell, Sullivan …

  13. Sorting out mysteries (via large samples) Sullivan, Kasliwal

  14. Swift Observations UVOT uvw1, uvm2, uvw2 XRT Kiran (2008-08-18) Muv = −23.5 (!) for z = 0.29 Quimby

  15. Luminous Supernovae: New Avenues • Deaths or death throes of very massive stars (but not like those found locally) • Arise in tiny galaxies (likely metal poor) • Long-lived optical/UV emission allows both IGM and ISM to be probed • Fading source offers powerful way to study DLA • Arm-chair astronomy?

  16. Two weeks ago

  17. Just this week

  18. PTF is finding: 1 transient per 20 minutes 1 strong variable per 10 minutes will respond to Fermi/GBM, IceCube,LIGO TOOs

  19. Lesson Learnt: An Integrated Approach P60 classification telescope P48 survey telescope P200 Spectroscopy

  20. The Future

  21. Transient Searches: Several Dimensions • Several dimensions • Field of View, Cadence • Band, Sensitivity • Focused programs (TOO, fixed targets, …) • “One kippah does not fit all” • This is the assumption being made by PS-1 and by LSST • Wrong assumption => new opportunity for nimble players

  22. A possible vision • Vision: 10,000 square degrees per night • Equip P48 with 0.5 Gigapixel sensor • Conventional CCD or CMOS • Reduce dead time to 20 s • Treat the Asteroid problem as an opportunity • A 1-m telescope for Asteroids only • Rapid photometric typing and low resolution spectroscopy as a part of the project • A 2-m photometry telescope • A 2-m Low Resolution Spectrograph telescope

  23. Space support • A dedicated satellite would provide UV and blue observations for interesting transients • All young transients in nearby galaxies • Luminous supernovae • [Low sky background, no moon problem, no weather problem] • 15-cm UV/Blue telescope would be adequate

  24. Topics for Discussion

  25. In the coming years • Likely LSST will be 2020 (given NSF funding profile) • Dedicated facilities such as PTF or PTF2 can skim the cream • aLIGO and VIRGO will reach full operational status by 2014 • EM localization is the great second prize in this field • Large FOV cm radio surveys will begin 2013 (ASKAP, ATA) • PTF or PTF2 can provide the perfect complementarity to these surveys

  26. Discussion • PTF-2 is one suggestion. • Other ideas? • Importance of UV/Blue space observations • Supporting • Providing critical diagnostic value [IDENTIFY]

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