The effect of the ionosphere on ultra-low-frequency radio-interferometric observations

Context. The ionosphere is the main driver of a series of systematic effects that limit our ability to explore the low-frequency (<1 GHz) sky with radio interferometers. Its effects become increasingly important towards lower frequencies and are particularly hard to calibrate in the low signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) regime in which low-frequency telescopes operate. Aims. In this paper we characterise and quantify the effect of ionospheric-induced systematic errors on astronomical interferometric radio observations at ultra-low frequencies (<100 MHz). We also provide guidelines for observations and data reduction at these frequencies with the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) and future instruments such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). Methods. We derive the expected systematic error induced by the ionosphere. We compare our predictions with data from the Low Band Antenna (LBA) system of LOFAR. Results. We show that we can isolate the ionospheric effect in LOFAR LBA data and that our results are compatible with satellite measurements, providing an independent way to measure the ionospheric total electron content (TEC). We show how the ionosphere also corrupts the correlated amplitudes through scintillations. We report values of the ionospheric structure function in line with the literature. Conclusions. The systematic errors on the phases of LOFAR LBA data can be accurately modelled as a sum of four effects (clock, ionosphere first, second, and third order). This greatly reduces the number of required calibration parameters, and therefore enables new efficient calibration strategies

High-precision Measurements of Ionospheric TEC Gradients with the Very Large Array VHF System

We have used a relatively long, contiguous VHF observation of a bright cosmic radio source (Cygnus A) with the Very Large Array (VLA) to demonstrate the capability of this instrument to study the ionosphere. This interferometer, and others like it, can observe ionospheric total electron content (TEC) fluctuations on a much wider range of scales than is possible with many other instruments. We have shown that with a bright source, the VLA can measure differential TEC values between pairs of antennas (delta-TEC) with an precision of 0.0003 TECU. Here, we detail the data reduction and processing techniques used to achieve this level of precision. In addition, we demonstrate techniques for exploiting these high-precision delta-TEC measurements to compute the TEC gradient observed by the array as well as small-scale fluctuations within the TEC gradient surface. A companion paper details specialized spectral analysis techniques used to characterize the properties of wave-like fluctuations within this data.Comment: accepted for publication in Radio Scienc

Searching for pulsars associated with the Fermi GeV excess

The Fermi Large Area Telescope has detected an extended region of GeV emission towards the Galactic Centre that is currently thought to be powered by dark matter annihilation or a population of young and/or millisecond pulsars. In a test of the pulsar hypothesis, we have carried out an initial search of a 20 deg2 area centred on the peak of the galactic centre GeV excess. Candidate pulsars were identified as a compact, steep spectrum continuum radio source on interferometric images and followed with targeted single-dish pulsation searches. We report the discovery of the recycled pulsar PSR 1751−2737 with a spin period of 2.23 ms. PSR 1751−2737 appears to be an isolated recycled pulsar located within the disc of our Galaxy, and it is not part of the putative bulge population of pulsars that are thought to be responsible for the excess GeV emission. However, our initial success in this small pilot survey suggests that this hybrid method (i.e. wide-field interferometric imaging followed up with single-dish pulsation searches) may be an efficient alternative strategy for testing whether a putative bulge population of pulsars is responsible for the GeV excess

Revived Fossil Plasma Sources in Galaxy Clusters

© 2020 ESO.It is well established that particle acceleration by shocks and turbulence in the intra-cluster medium can produce cluster-scale synchrotron emitting sources. However, the detailed physics of these particle acceleration processes is still not well understood. One of the main open questions is the role of fossil relativistic electrons that have been deposited in the intracluster medium (ICM) by radio galaxies. These synchrotron-emitting electrons are very difficult to study as their radiative lifetime is only tens of Myr at gigahertz frequencies, and they are therefore a relatively unexplored population. Despite the typical steep radio spectrum due to synchrotron losses, these fossil electrons are barely visible even at radio frequencies well below the gigahertz level. However, when a pocket of fossil radio plasma is compressed, it boosts the visibility at sub-gigahertz frequencies, creating what are known as radio phoenices. This compression can be the result of bulk motion and shocks in the ICM due to merger activity. In this paper we demonstrate the discovery potential of low-frequency radio sky surveys to find and study revived fossil plasma sources in galaxy clusters. We used the 150 MHz TIFR GMRT Sky Survey and the 1.4 GHz NVSS sky survey to identify candidate radio phoenices. A subset of three candidates was studied in detail using deep multi-band radio observations (LOFAR and GMRT), X-ray obserations (Chandra or XMM-Newton), and archival optical observations. Two of the three sources are new discoveries. Using these observations, we identified common observational properties (radio morphology, ultra-steep spectrum, X-ray luminosity, dynamical state) that will enable us to identify this class of sources more easily, and will help us to understand the physical origin of these sources.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

A powerful double radio relic system discovered in PSZ1 G108.18-11.53: Evidence for a shock with non-uniform Mach number?

Diffuse radio emission in the form of radio haloes and relics has been found in a number of merging galaxy clusters. These structures indicate that shock and turbulence associated with the merger accelerate electrons to relativistic energies. We report the discovery of a radio relic + radio halo system in PSZ1 G108.18-11.53 (z = 0.335). This cluster hosts the second most powerful double radio relic system ever discovered. We observed PSZ1 G108.18-11.53 with the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope and the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope. We obtained radio maps at 147, 323, 607 and 1380 MHz. We also observed the cluster with the Keck telescope, obtaining the spectroscopic redshift for 42 cluster members. From the injection index, we obtained the Mach number of the shocks generating the two radio relics. For the southern shock, we found M = 2.33-0.26+0.19, while the northern shock Mach number goes fromM= 2.20-0.14+0.07 in the north part down toM= 2.00-0.08+0.03 in the southern region. If the relation between the injection index and the Mach number predicted by diffusive shock acceleration theory holds, this is the first observational evidence for a gradient in the Mach number along a galaxy cluster merger shock

Radio haloes in Sunyaev-Zel'dovich-selected clusters of galaxies: The making of a halo?

Radio haloes are synchrotron radio sources detected in some massive galaxy clusters. Their size of Mpc indicates that (re)acceleration processes are taking place in the host cluster. X-ray catalogues of galaxy clusters have been used in the past to search for radio haloes and to understand their connection with cluster-cluster mergers and with the thermal component of the intracluster medium. More recently, the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect has been proven to be a better route to search for massive clusters in a wider redshift range. With the aim of discovering new radio haloes and understanding their connection with cluster-cluster mergers, we have selected themostmassive clusters from the Planck early source catalogue and we have observed with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope at 323 MHz those objects for which deep observations were not available. We have discovered new peculiar radio emission in three of the observed clusters, finding (i) a radio halo in the cluster RXCJ0949.8+1708, (ii) extended emission in Abell 1443 that we classify as a radio halo plus a radio relic, with a bright filament embedded in the radio halo, and (iii) low-power radio emission in CIZA J1938.3+5409 that is ten times below the radio-X-ray correlation and represents the first direct detection of the radio emission in the 'upper-limit' region of the radio-X-ray diagram. We discuss the properties of these new radio haloes in the framework of theoretical models for the radio emission

Radio observations of the double-relic galaxy cluster Abell 1240

We present LOFAR 120 − 168 MHz images of the merging galaxy cluster Abell 1240 that hosts double radio relics. In combination with the GMRT 595 − 629 MHz and VLA 2 − 4 GHz data, we characterised the spectral and polarimetric properties of the radio emission. The spectral indices for the relics steepen from their outer edges towards the cluster centre and the electric field vectors are approximately perpendicular to the major axes of the relics. The results are consistent with the picture that these relics trace large-scale shocks propagating outwards during the merger. Assuming diffusive shock acceleration (DSA), we obtain shock Mach numbers of M = 2.4 and 2.3 for the northern and southern shocks, respectively. For M ≲ 3 shocks, a pre-existing population of mildly relativistic electrons is required to explain the brightness of the relics due to the high (> 10 per cent) particle acceleration efficiency required. However, for M ≳ 4 shocks the required efficiency is ≳ 1% and ≳ 0.5%, respectively, which is low enough for shock acceleration directly from the thermal pool. We used the fractional polarization to constrain the viewing angle to ≥ 53 ± 3° and ≥ 39 ± 5° for the northern and southern shocks, respectively. We found no evidence for diffuse emission in the cluster central region. If the halo spans the entire region between the relics (∼1.8 Mpc) our upper limit on the power is P1.4 GHz = (1.4 ± 0.6) × 1023 W Hz−1 which is approximately equal to the anticipated flux from a cluster of this mass. However, if the halo is smaller than this, our constraints on the power imply that the halo is underluminous

First evidence of diffuse ultra-steep-spectrum radio emission surrounding the cool core of a cluster

Diffuse synchrotron radio emission from cosmic-ray electrons is observed at the center of a number of galaxy clusters. These sources can be classified either as giant radio halos, which occur in merging clusters, or as mini halos, which are found only in cool-core clusters. In this paper, we present the first discovery of a cool-core cluster with an associated mini halo that also shows ultra-steep-spectrum emission extending well beyond the core that resembles radio halo emission. The large-scale component is discovered thanks to LOFAR observations at 144 MHz. We also analyse GMRT observations at 610 MHz to characterise the spectrum of the radio emission. An X-ray analysis reveals that the cluster is slightly disturbed, and we suggest that the steep-spectrum radio emission outside the core could be produced by a minor merger that powers electron re-acceleration without disrupting the cool core. This discovery suggests that, under particular circumstances, both a mini and giant halo could co-exist in a single cluster, opening new perspectives for particle acceleration mechanisms in galaxy clusters

A distant radio mini-halo in the phoenix galaxy cluster

We report the discovery of extended radio emission in the Phoenix cluster (SPT-CL J2344-4243, z = 0.596) with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) at 610 MHz. The diffuse emission extends over a region of at least 400-500 kpc and surrounds the central radio source of the Brightest Cluster Galaxy, but does not appear to be directly associated with it. We classify the diffuse emission as a radio mini-halo, making it the currently most distant mini-halo known. Radio mini-halos have been explained by synchrotron emitting particles re-accelerated via turbulence, possibly induced by gas sloshing generated from a minor merger event. Chandra observations show a non-concentric X-ray surface brightness distribution, which is consistent with this sloshing interpretation. The mini-halo has a flux density of 17 ± 5 mJy, resulting in a 1.4 GHz radio power of (10.4 ± 3.5) × 1024 W Hz-1. The combined cluster emission, which includes the central compact radio source, is also detected in a shallow GMRT 156 MHz observation and together with the 610 MHz data we compute a spectral index of-0.84 ± 0.12 for the overall cluster radio emission. Given that mini-halos typically have steeper radio spectra than cluster radio galaxies, this spectral index should be taken as an upper limit for the mini-halo. © 2014. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved