MeerKAT & MeerLICHTA next step in transient surveys

MeerKAT 1st light: 16 dishes

Paul Groot

MeerKAT 1st light: 16 dishes

MeerKAT: First 64 dishes of SKA Mid-1

MeerKAT: ● 64 dishes (13.5m) of the SKA Mid-1. 75% ZA resourced● Now: 16 dishes operational, commissioning, no science● March 2017: 32 dishes, first science runs● Late 2017: 64 dishes operational, 5 year science program

L-band: Tsys = 22 K, Ae/Tsys=6.5 m2/K

UHF: Tsys = 29 K, Ae/Tsys = 4.8 m2/K

S-band: Tsys < 30 K (tbc)

MeerKAT Science

● Five year science program● 70% of time allocated to Legacy Surveys (>1000 hrs), 30% open (ZA) time

Legacy Survey Science PIsLADUMA Galaxy Evolution (5000hrs) Blyth, Holwerda, Baker

MeerTIME Pulsar timing , GR Bailes

MESMER Molecules in EOR Heywood

Mhongoose HI emission Local Universe De Blok

TRAPUM Time domain transients Stappers, Kramer

Fornax Fornax Cluster Spano

MeerGAL Galactic Plane Survey Thompson, Goedhart

MIGHTEE Radio Continuum Galaxy Jarvis, Taylor

ThunderKAT Image plane transients Fender, Woudt

→ Vast majority of time will be spent on

ThunderKAT PIs: Woudt (UCT) & Fender (Oxford/UCT)

● Fully commensal program on MeerKAT● Image plane transients on all (Legacy) programs● Dedicated data spigot allows 1-5 second images → Basic cadence of the survey● Science is on transients: explosions and outbursts.

GRBsFRBs(ERBs)GWs SNTDEsetc.

XRBsDNe CVsNovaeSN .IadMe starsAGNSymbioticsetc.

Catastrophic Recurrent

See recent work on Cataclysmic Variables in radio-optical by Deanne Coppejans.

MeerLICHT: Take the 'follow-up' out of transient surveys

Radio emission of dwarf nova CVs

Coppejans et al., 2016, submitted

Multiwavelength Science

WD/NS/BH

Jet

Accretion Disk

Donor Star

Multiwavelength Science

X-rays to UV

Radio to Infrared

Optical to UV

Optical to Infrared

Transient = Multiwavelength

Wavelengths trace components; Wavelengths trace physics

Radio Optical Total Energetics

Jets yes/no?

Jet flow velocities

Magnetic Field strengths

Circumstellar densities

Relic shells

Outflow evolution

Radial velocity curves

Binary components/masses

Redshifts if extragalactic

Donor stars

Time evolution

Simultaneous!

Jet launching Relative delays Relative brightness Population correlation Rates

MeerLICHT

● Optical wide-field telescope (2.7 square degrees @ 0.57”/pix)● Prototype of BlackGEM-type telescopes; technically identical● To be installed on Sutherland, SAAO in '20inch dome' (Early 2017)● 60s cadence, filter sequence: g,q,r,q,i,q,u,q,z,q,etc....

Twinned to MeerKAT radio array: 'always-on' optical-radio synoptic survey

MeerLICHT & MeerKAT

SAAOMeerLICHT

SKAMeerKAT

MeerLICHT

SALT

MeerLICHT

BlackGEM & MeerLICHTBlackGEM/MeerLICHT telescope

● 65 cm main mirror● 110 Mpix camera (1 chip)● 7 second readout

● Carbon-fibre structure● Fornax 200 mount● Fully robotic

● Status: Assembly and testing phase (ML)

● Commissioning: Feb 2017

MeerLICHT● Operational: Q1 2017

BlackGEMPhase 1 (2018)● 3 telescopes (8.1 sqd)

Phase 2 (2020)● 15 telescopes (40 sqd)

CCD & Filters● STA1600, 10.5k x 10.5k CCD, 9 μ pixel : 110 Mpixel chip ● Scale on sky: 0.562”/pix, total field of view: 2.7 sqd/telescope● Readout time: 7 seconds (at 1 MHz on 16 ports), RON: 5.5 e- ● Status: Final, first delivered and integrated in cryostat

Filters:Sloan u,g,r,i,z filters plus broad-band q (440-720nm)Status: delivered to spec (Astrodon)

q

Delivered parts M1

Mount

CCD inCryostat

Cryostat window

Filter wheel

FilterwheelShutterADC

Data processing & products M1MeerLICHT

● 220 Mb per exposure → 13 Gb/hr → 150 Gb per night of raw data → 15 Gb database entry per night

● All data transported by fiber in real time to the IDIA in Cape Town(IDIA = Interuniversity Center for Data Intensive Astrophysics, PI Russ Taylor)

● On-the-fly processing using SkyMapper – MeerLICHT – BlackGEM pipeline→ Will include Zackay & Ofek algorithms, implemented by Paul Vreeswijk

Static products (images & catalogues) available for all MeerKAT PIs.

ThunderKAT

● Dedicated data spigot → IDIA → imaging at 1s cadence

● Separate data base. User side join with MeerLICHT

MeerLICHT ConsortiumPIs: Paul Groot (Radboud U.), Patrick Woudt (UCT)Consortium repr.: Rob Fender (Oxford), Ben Stappers (Manch.), (Rudy Wijnands (UvA)) Project Scientist: Elmar Körding (Radboud)Project Managers: Marc Klein-Wolt (Radboud), Vanessa McBride (UCT)Instrument Scientist: Retha Pretorius (Oxford)

@MeerLICHT_ZA

MeerLICHT in SKA eraLifetime

● MeerLICHT can operate for 10+ years● F.o.v. SKA-Mid = MeerKAT = MeerLICHT

Network in SKA Partner countries? → Capacity building

Coordinated Facilities● B&E 2015: 'Plethora of optical synoptic survey facilities' (SRK)● B&E 2016: 'Cambrian Explosion of radio survey facilities' (Frail)

And yet....only 1 coordinated experiment

We must do better....

Possibilities: ● MeerKAT + MeerLICHT + UltraSAT / Cutie (UV cube) + XMM?

● ZTF + Apertif + Swift + UltraSAT ?? (not a new thought...)

● VLASS + ?? (SDSS?, MeerLICHT_US?, Chandra? )

● BlackGEM-15 + ASKAP?

An Exercise● Parkes Multibeam: 13 times 14'x14'

● For Chime: 2.5° x 100°

● For VLA: 30' x 30'

13 commercial 50cm/f8 telescopes + mounts = 13x 50 kEuro = 750 kEuro: 0.7 “/pixel, 1000 x 1000 pixels for 13' x 13' fov.

13 times SHOC (Andor iXon EM CCD @ 10 Hz) camera = 750 kEuroFor 1.5 MEuro: full optical system

40 50cm/f3 telescopes, no mounts = 40x70 kEuro = 2.8 MEuro40 times 4k x4k camera, 2.25”/pixel = 2.8 MEuro For full system: 5.6 MEuro

Single 60cm f/8 telescope + mount = 100 kEuroSingle 4k x 4k chip (at 0.55”/pix) = 50 kEuroFor full system: 150 kEuro (!!!!)

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