Speaker
Description
We recently opened a new window into the variable radio sky on timescales of seconds to minutes. Through these observations, a new class of sources Long Period Transients (LPTs) has begun to emerge. These transients emit previously unknown radio flares lasting from seconds to minutes and exhibit periodicities ranging from minutes to hours. Such timescales suggest that these transients produce coherent radio emission. Some have been associated with high-energy counterparts in the Milky Way, suggesting a magnetar origin, while others have been identified as M dwarf–white dwarf binary systems, including one detected in LOFAR data. However, their nature remains uncertain, and more detections are needed to constrain these hypotheses and improve our understanding of the origin of LPTs.
Here, we present our ongoing analysis of the LOFAR Two-Metre Sky Survey (LoTSS) data. LoTSS aims to image the entire northern sky with unprecedented sensitivity and angular resolution, probing a largely unexplored region of the radio sky. Our approach uses modern imaging techniques, including subtraction imaging and fast filter analysis, to detect rare bursts using 8-second and 2-minute snapshot images. We also introduce a new de-dispersion technique developed for LOFAR images, aimed at detecting fainter, dispersed signals. This technique will be applied for the first time to approximately 3,000 LoTSS fields.
Over the next few months, our goal is to analyze more than 20% of the available data to detect additional LPTs. This project will contribute to the development of LOFAR 2.0 and the Euroflash project, supporting efforts to accelerate the real-time identification of these transients.
