95,395 research outputs found
VAST: An ASKAP Survey for Variables and Slow Transients
The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) will give us an
unprecedented opportunity to investigate the transient sky at radio
wavelengths. In this paper we present VAST, an ASKAP survey for Variables and
Slow Transients. VAST will exploit the wide-field survey capabilities of ASKAP
to enable the discovery and investigation of variable and transient phenomena
from the local to the cosmological, including flare stars, intermittent
pulsars, X-ray binaries, magnetars, extreme scattering events, interstellar
scintillation, radio supernovae and orphan afterglows of gamma ray bursts. In
addition, it will allow us to probe unexplored regions of parameter space where
new classes of transient sources may be detected. In this paper we review the
known radio transient and variable populations and the current results from
blind radio surveys. We outline a comprehensive program based on a multi-tiered
survey strategy to characterise the radio transient sky through detection and
monitoring of transient and variable sources on the ASKAP imaging timescales of
five seconds and greater. We also present an analysis of the expected source
populations that we will be able to detect with VAST.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figures. Submitted for publication in Pub. Astron. Soc.
Australi
Traveling wave packets of total electron content disturbances as deduced from global GPS network data
We identified a new class of mid-latitude medium-scale traveling ionospheric
disturbances (MS TIDs), viz. traveling wave packets (TWPs) of total electron
content (TEC) disturbances. For the first time, the morphology of TWPs is
presented for 105 days. Using the technique of GPS interferometry of TIDs we
carried out a detailed analysis of the spatial-temporal properties of TWPs by
considering an example of the most conspicuous manifestation of TWPs on October
18, 2001 over California, USA. The velocity and direction of TWPs correspond to
those of mid-latitude MS TIDs obtained previously from analyzing the phase
characteristics of HF radio signals as well as signals from geostationary
satellites and discrete cosmic radio sources.Comment: LaTeX2.09, 28 pages, 9 figure
How to avoid potential pitfalls in recurrence plot based data analysis
Recurrence plots and recurrence quantification analysis have become popular
in the last two decades. Recurrence based methods have on the one hand a deep
foundation in the theory of dynamical systems and are on the other hand
powerful tools for the investigation of a variety of problems. The increasing
interest encompasses the growing risk of misuse and uncritical application of
these methods. Therefore, we point out potential problems and pitfalls related
to different aspects of the application of recurrence plots and recurrence
quantification analysis
Scaling Analysis and Evolution Equation of the North Atlantic Oscillation Index Fluctuations
The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) monthly index is studied from 1825 till
2002 in order to identify the scaling ranges of its fluctuations upon different
delay times and to find out whether or not it can be regarded as a Markov
process. A Hurst rescaled range analysis and a detrended fluctuation analysis
both indicate the existence of weakly persistent long range time correlations
for the whole scaling range and time span hereby studied. Such correlations are
similar to Brownian fluctuations. The Fokker-Planck equation is derived and
Kramers-Moyal coefficients estimated from the data. They are interpreted in
terms of a drift and a diffusion coefficient as in fluid mechanics. All partial
distribution functions of the NAO monthly index fluctuations have a form close
to a Gaussian, for all time lags, in agreement with the findings of the scaling
analyses. This indicates the lack of predictive power of the present NAO
monthly index. Yet there are some deviations for large (and thus rare) events.
Whence suggestions for other measurements are made if some improved
predictability of the weather/climate in the North Atlantic is of interest. The
subsequent Langevin equation of the NAO signal fluctuations is explicitly
written in terms of the diffusion and drift parameters, and a characteristic
time scale for these is given in appendix.Comment: 6 figures, 54 refs., 16 pages; submitted to Int. J. Mod. Phys. C:
Comput. Phy
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