Electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave bursts

这位名叫Lauren Rhodes的学生将研究引力波(GW)爆发(中子星合并)和与之密切相关的短伽马射线暴(SGRb)现象的无线电对应物。该项目的核心资源将是我们团队通过ThunderKAT获得的保证时间，这是一项新启用的Meerkat射电望远镜上批准的为期5年的大型测量计划(项目主管芬德是ThunderKAT的联合负责人)。我们预计在Adv.LIGO于2019年初重新启动后将跟踪一些事件，这将使我们能够探索GW爆发的电磁对应物属性的多样性，并测量这些事件的动力学反馈。这一核心Meerkat方案将得到多波长运动的支持，以及在北部的一个关于AMI-LA的平行广播节目。结合射电观测，将探索射电事件的理论解释。目前，基于“正常”伽玛暴余辉的非常简单的模型正被应用于已知的GW余辉，即GW170817。我们将通过简单的模型探索观测所允许的参数空间范围，并探索数值模型在解释结果方面可能发挥的作用。与以往这样的项目一样，我们不能准确预测将发生什么，我们将保持灵活和动态的方法。特别是，学到的观测和建模技能将与其他同步加速器瞬变(例如最近发现的和无法解释的瞬变“AT2018Cow”)相关。

The student, Ms Lauren Rhodes, will work on the radio counterparts of gravitational wave (GW) burst (neutron star mergers) and the closely-related phenomenon of short Gamma Ray Bursts (sGRBs). The core resource of the project will be the guaranteed time that our team has via 'ThunderKAT', which is an approved 5-year large survey programme on the newly-commissioned MeerKAT radio telescope (project supervisor Fender is co-lead of ThunderKAT). We expect to follow up a number of events after Adv. LIGO switches back on in early 2019, and this will allow us to explore the diversity in the properties of the electromagnetic counterparts of GW bursts, and measure the kinetic feedback from these events. This core MeerKAT programme will be supported with multiwavelength campaigns, as well as a parallel radio programme on AMI-LA in the north. In concert with the radio observations, the theoretical interpretation of the radio events will be explored. At the moment very simple models based upon 'normal' GRB afterglows are being applied to the one known GW afterglow, that of GW170817. We will explore the range of parameter space allowed by the observations in terms of simple models, as well as exploring the role that numerical models might have to play in terms of interpreting the results.As ever with such projects, we cannot predict exactly what will occur, and we will retain a flexible and dynamic approach. In particular, the observational and modelling skills learned will be relevant to other synchrotron transients (e.g. the recently-discovered and unexplained transient 'AT2018cow').