Probing the Timescales of Radio Variability: From Late-time Supernovae Re-Brightening to Long Period Transients

Abstract:

We have entered the age of big data in astrophysics and radio astronomy is no exception. Wide-field surveys with the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope are finding millions of radio-bright sources in the southern skies. In this talk I will speak about three recent discoveries and their implications on our understanding of stellar magnetism in fully convective stars, binary evolution in accreting systems, and the mass-loss history of supernova progenitors. The first comes from our detection of periodic bursts from an ultracool brown dwarf, the latest spectral type star ever found to produce radio emission. Second, we have found orbitally-modulated X-ray and radio pulses from a newly discovered long period transient. And finally, we are finding supernovae re-brightening years after their optical discovery, as the blast wave interacts with shells of circumstellar material. Finding and studying these rare transients is helping us explore astrophysical environments that cannot be studied on Earth.

Please note that the event timezone is AEDT (UTC+11 hrs)

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