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Black Hole

Lensing of space time around a black hole. At Oxford we study black holes observationally and theoretically on all size and time scales - it is some of our core work.

Credit: ALAIN RIAZUELO, IAP/UPMC/CNRS. CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE IMAGES.

Dr Lauren Rhodes

TSI Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Research theme

  • Astronomy and astrophysics

Sub department

  • Astrophysics

Research groups

  • MeerKAT
  • Pulsars, transients and relativistic astrophysics
  • The Square Kilometre Array (SKA)
  • Gamma-ray astronomy
lauren.rhodes@physics.ox.ac.uk
laurenrhodes.github.io
  • About
  • Publications

Discovery of the Optical and Radio Counterpart to the Fast X-Ray Transient EP 240315a

The Astrophysical Journal Letters American Astronomical Society 969:1 (2024) L14

Authors:

JH Gillanders, L Rhodes, S Srivastav, F Carotenuto, J Bright, ME Huber, HF Stevance, SJ Smartt, KC Chambers, T-W Chen, R Fender, A Andersson, AJ Cooper, PG Jonker, FJ Cowie, T de Boer, N Erasmus, MD Fulton, H Gao, J Herman, C-C Lin, T Lowe, EA Magnier, H-Y Miao

Abstract:

Fast X-ray Transients (FXTs) are extragalactic bursts of soft X-rays first identified ≳10 yr ago. Since then, nearly 40 events have been discovered, although almost all of these have been recovered from archival Chandra and XMM-Newton data. To date, optical sky surveys and follow-up searches have not revealed any multiwavelength counterparts. The Einstein Probe, launched in 2024 January, has started surveying the sky in the soft X-ray regime (0.5–4 keV) and will rapidly increase the sample of FXTs discovered in real time. Here we report the first discovery of both an optical and radio counterpart to a distant FXT, the fourth source publicly released by the Einstein Probe. We discovered a fast-fading optical transient within the 3′ localization radius of EP 240315a with the all-sky optical survey ATLAS, and our follow-up Gemini spectrum provides a redshift, z = 4.859 ± 0.002. Furthermore, we uncovered a radio counterpart in the S band (3.0 GHz) with the MeerKAT radio interferometer. The optical (rest-frame UV) and radio luminosities indicate that the FXT most likely originates from either a long gamma-ray burst or a relativistic tidal disruption event. This may be a fortuitous early mission detection by the Einstein Probe or may signpost a mode of discovery for high-redshift, high-energy transients through soft X-ray surveys, combined with locating multiwavelength counterparts.
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Testing EMRI Models for Quasi-periodic Eruptions with 3.5 yr of Monitoring eRO-QPE1

The Astrophysical Journal American Astronomical Society 965:1 (2024) 12

Authors:

Joheen Chakraborty, Riccardo Arcodia, Erin Kara, Giovanni Miniutti, Margherita Giustini, Alexandra J Tetarenko, Lauren Rhodes, Alessia Franchini, Matteo Bonetti, Kevin B Burdge, Adelle J Goodwin, Thomas J Maccarone, Andrea Merloni, Gabriele Ponti, Ronald A Remillard, Richard D Saxton
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Heavy-element production in a compact object merger observed by JWST.

Nature 626:8000 (2024) 737-741

Authors:

Andrew J Levan, Benjamin P Gompertz, Om Sharan Salafia, Mattia Bulla, Eric Burns, Kenta Hotokezaka, Luca Izzo, Gavin P Lamb, Daniele B Malesani, Samantha R Oates, Maria Edvige Ravasio, Alicia Rouco Escorial, Benjamin Schneider, Nikhil Sarin, Steve Schulze, Nial R Tanvir, Kendall Ackley, Gemma Anderson, Gabriel B Brammer, Lise Christensen, Vikram S Dhillon, Phil A Evans, Michael Fausnaugh, Wen-Fai Fong, Andrew S Fruchter, Chris Fryer, Johan PU Fynbo, Nicola Gaspari, Kasper E Heintz, Jens Hjorth, Jamie A Kennea, Mark R Kennedy, Tanmoy Laskar, Giorgos Leloudas, Ilya Mandel, Antonio Martin-Carrillo, Brian D Metzger, Matt Nicholl, Anya Nugent, Jesse T Palmerio, Giovanna Pugliese, Jillian Rastinejad, Lauren Rhodes, Andrea Rossi, Andrea Saccardi, Stephen J Smartt, Heloise F Stevance, Aaron Tohuvavohu, Alexander van der Horst, Susanna D Vergani, Darach Watson, Thomas Barclay, Kornpob Bhirombhakdi, Elmé Breedt, Alice A Breeveld, Alexander J Brown, Sergio Campana, Ashley A Chrimes, Paolo D'Avanzo, Valerio D'Elia, Massimiliano De Pasquale, Martin J Dyer, Duncan K Galloway, James A Garbutt, Matthew J Green, Dieter H Hartmann, Páll Jakobsson, Paul Kerry, Chryssa Kouveliotou, Danial Langeroodi, Emeric Le Floc'h, James K Leung, Stuart P Littlefair, James Munday, Paul O'Brien, Steven G Parsons, Ingrid Pelisoli, David I Sahman, Ruben Salvaterra, Boris Sbarufatti, Danny Steeghs, Gianpiero Tagliaferri, Christina C Thöne, Antonio de Ugarte Postigo, David Alexander Kann

Abstract:

The mergers of binary compact objects such as neutron stars and black holes are of central interest to several areas of astrophysics, including as the progenitors of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs)1, sources of high-frequency gravitational waves (GWs)2 and likely production sites for heavy-element nucleosynthesis by means of rapid neutron capture (the r-process)3. Here we present observations of the exceptionally bright GRB 230307A. We show that GRB 230307A belongs to the class of long-duration GRBs associated with compact object mergers4-6 and contains a kilonova similar to AT2017gfo, associated with the GW merger GW170817 (refs. 7-12). We obtained James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) mid-infrared imaging and spectroscopy 29 and 61 days after the burst. The spectroscopy shows an emission line at 2.15 microns, which we interpret as tellurium (atomic mass A = 130) and a very red source, emitting most of its light in the mid-infrared owing to the production of lanthanides. These observations demonstrate that nucleosynthesis in GRBs can create r-process elements across a broad atomic mass range and play a central role in heavy-element nucleosynthesis across the Universe.
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An off-axis relativistic jet seen in the long lasting delayed radio flare of the TDE AT 2018hyz

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Oxford University Press (OUP) 527:3 (2023) 7672-7680

Authors:

Itai Sfaradi, Paz Beniamini, Assaf Horesh, Tsvi Piran, Joe Bright, Lauren Rhodes, David RA Williams, Rob Fender, James K Leung, Tara Murphy, Dave A Green
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SN 2022jli: A Type Ic Supernova with Periodic Modulation of Its Light Curve and an Unusually Long Rise

The Astrophysical Journal Letters American Astronomical Society 956:1 (2023) l31

Authors:

T Moore, SJ Smartt, M Nicholl, S Srivastav, HF Stevance, DB Jess, SDT Grant, MD Fulton, L Rhodes, SA Sim, R Hirai, P Podsiadlowski, JP Anderson, C Ashall, W Bate, R Fender, CP Gutiérrez, DA Howell, ME Huber, C Inserra, G Leloudas, LAG Monard, TE Müller-Bravo, BJ Shappee, KW Smith, G Terreran, J Tonry, MA Tucker, DR Young, A Aamer, T-W Chen, F Ragosta, L Galbany, M Gromadzki, L Harvey, P Hoeflich, C McCully, M Newsome, EP Gonzalez, C Pellegrino, P Ramsden, M Pérez-Torres, EJ Ridley, X Sheng, J Weston
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