Beecroft Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology

Abstract:

The newest generation of radio telescopes is able to survey large areas with high sensitivity and cadence, producing data volumes that require new methods to better understand the transient sky. Here, we describe the results from the first citizen science project dedicated to commensal radio transients, using data from the MeerKAT telescope with weekly cadence. Bursts from Space: MeerKAT was launched late in 2021 and received ∼89 000 classifications from over 1000 volunteers in 3 months. Our volunteers discovered 142 new variable sources which, along with the known transients in our fields, allowed us to estimate that at least 2.1 per cent of radio sources are varying at 1.28 GHz at the sampled cadence and sensitivity, in line with previous work. We provide the full catalogue of these sources, the largest of candidate radio variables to date. Transient sources found with archival counterparts include a pulsar (B1845-01) and an OH maser star (OH 30.1–0.7), in addition to the recovery of known stellar flares and X-ray binary jets in our observations. Data from the MeerLICHT optical telescope, along with estimates of long time-scale variability induced by scintillation, imply that the majority of the new variables are active galactic nuclei. This tells us that citizen scientists can discover phenomena varying on time-scales from weeks to several years. The success both in terms of volunteer engagement and scientific merit warrants the continued development of the project, while we use the classifications from volunteers to develop machine learning techniques for finding transients.

Abstract:

We set constraints on the dark matter halo mass and concentration of ∼22 000 individual galaxies visible both in H I (from the ALFALFA survey) and optical light (from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey). This is achieved by combining two Bayesian models, one for the H I line width as a function of the stellar and neutral hydrogen mass distributions in a galaxy using kinematic modelling, and the other for the galaxy’s total baryonic mass using the technique of inverse subhalo abundance matching. We hence quantify the constraining power on halo properties of spectroscopic and photometric observations, and assess their consistency. We find good agreement between the two sets of posteriors, although there is a sizeable population of low-line width galaxies that favour significantly smaller dynamical masses than expected from abundance matching (especially for cuspy halo profiles). Abundance matching provides significantly more stringent bounds on halo properties than the H I line width, even with a mass–concentration prior included, although combining the two provides a mean gain of 40 per cent for the sample when fitting an NFW profile. We also use our kinematic posteriors to construct a baryonic mass–halo mass relation, which we find to be near power law, and with a somewhat shallower slope than expected from abundance matching. Our method demonstrates the potential of combining photometric and spectroscopic observations to precisely map out the dark matter distribution at the galaxy scale using upcoming H I surveys such as the SKA.

Abstract:

We present measurements of the rest-frame ultraviolet luminosity function (LF) at redshifts z = 3, z = 4, and z = 5, using 96894, 38655, and 7571 sources, respectively, to map the transition between active galactic nuclei (AGN) and galaxy-dominated ultraviolet emission shortly after the epoch of reionization (EoR). Sources are selected using a comprehensive photometric redshift approach, using 10 deg² of deep extragalactic legacy fields covered by both HSC and VISTA. The use of template fitting spanning a wavelength range of 0.3–2.4 μm achieves 80–90 per cent completeness, much higher than the classical colour–colour cut methodology. The measured LF encompasses −26 < M_UV < −19.25. This is further extended to −28.5 < M_UV < −16 using complementary results from other studies, allowing for the simultaneous fitting of the combined AGN and galaxy LF. We find that there are fewer UV luminous galaxies (M_UV < −22) at z ∼ 3 than z ∼ 4, indicative of an onset of widespread quenching alongside dust obscuration, and that the evolution of the AGN LF is very rapid, with their number density rising by around two orders of magnitude from 3 < z < 6. It remains difficult to determine if a double power law functional form is preferred over the Schechter function to describe the galaxy UV LF. Estimating the hydrogen ionizing photon budget from our UV LFs, we find that AGN can contribute to, but cannot solely maintain, the reionization of the Universe at z = 3–5. However, the rapidly evolving AGN LF strongly disfavours a significant contribution within the EoR.