The SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey: 850um maps, catalogues and number counts

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Oxford University Press 465:2 (2016) 1789-1806

Authors:

JE Geach, JS Dunlop, M Halpern, I Smail, PVD Werf, DM Alexander, O Almaini, I Aretxaga, V Arumugam, V Asboth, M Banerji, J Beanlands, PN Best, AW Blain, M Birkinshaw, EL Chapin, SC Chapman, C-C Chen, A Chrysostomou, C Clarke, DL Clements, C Conselice, KEK Coppin, WI Cowley, ALR Danielson, S Eales, AC Edge, D Farrah, A Gibb, CM Harrison, NK Hine, D Hughes, RJ Ivison, Matthew Jarvis, T Jenness, SF Jones, A Karim, M Koprowski, KK Knudsen, CG Lacey, T Mackenzie, G Marsden, K McAlpine, R McMahon, R Meijerink, MJ Michalowski, SJ Oliver, MJ Page, JA Peacock, Dimitra Rigopoulou

Abstract:

We present a catalogue of ∼3,000 submillimetre sources detected (≥3.5σ) at 850μm over ∼5 deg2 surveyed as part of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) SCUBA-2 Cosmology Legacy Survey (S2CLS). This is the largest survey of its kind at 850μm, increasing the sample size of 850-μm-selected submillimetre galaxies by an order of magnitude. The wide 850μm survey component of S2CLS covers the extragalactic fields: UKIDSS-UDS, COSMOS, Akari-NEP, Extended Groth Strip, Lockman Hole North, SSA22 and GOODS-North. The average 1σ depth of S2CLS is 1.2 mJy beam−1, approaching the SCUBA-2 850μm confusion limit, which we determine to be σc ≈ 0.8 mJy beam−1. We measure the 850μm number counts, reducing the Poisson errors on the differential counts to approximately 4% at S850 ≈ 3 mJy. With several independent fields, we investigate field-to-field variance, finding that the number counts on 0.5–1° scales are generally within 50% of the S2CLS mean for S850 > 3 mJy, with scatter consistent with the Poisson and estimated cosmic variance uncertainties, although there is a marginal (2σ) density enhancement in GOODS-North. The observed counts are in reasonable agreement with recent phenomenological and semi-analytic models, although determining the shape of the faint end slope (S850 < 3 mJy) remains a key test. The large solid angle of S2CLS allows us to measure the bright-end counts: at S850 > 10 mJy there are approximately ten sources per square degree, and we detect the distinctive up-turn in the number counts indicative of the detection of local sources of 850μm emission, and strongly lensed high-redshift galaxies. All calibrated maps and the catalogue are made publicly available.

Galaxy and mass assembly: the 1.4 GHz SFR indicator, SFR–M* relation and predictions for ASKAP–GAMA

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Oxford University Press 466:2 (2016) 2312-2324

Authors:

Luke JM Davies, Minh T Huynh, Andrew M Hopkins, Nick Seymour, Simon P Driver, Aaron GR Robotham, Ivan K Baldry, Joss Bland-Hawthorn, Nathan Bourne, Malcolm N Bremer, Michael JI Brown, Sarah Brough, Michelle Cluver, Meiert W Grootes, Matthew Jarvis, Jonathan Loveday, Amanda Moffet, Matt Owers, Steven Phillipps, Elaine Sadler, Lingyu Wang, Stephen Wilkins, Angus Wright

Abstract:

We present a robust calibration of the 1.4 GHz radio continuum star formation rate (SFR) using a combination of the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey and the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-cm (FIRST) survey. We identify individually detected 1.4 GHz GAMA-FIRST sources and use a late-type, non-AGN, volume-limited sample from GAMA to produce stellar mass-selected samples. The latter are then combined to produce FIRST-stacked images. This extends the robust parametrisation of the 1.4 GHz-SFR relation to faint luminosities. For both the individually detected galaxies and our stacked samples, we compare 1.4 GHz luminosity to SFRs derived from GAMA to determine a new 1.4 GHz luminosity-to-SFR relation with well constrained slope and normalisation. For the first time, we produce the radio SFR-M⇤ relation over 2 decades in stellar mass, and find that our new calibration is robust, and produces a SFR-M⇤relation which is consistent with all other GAMA SFR methods. Finally, using our new 1.4 GHz luminosity-to-SFR calibration we make predictions for the number of star-forming GAMA sources which are likely to be detected in the upcoming ASKAP surveys, EMU and DINGO.

Simultaneous radio and X-ray observations of PSR B0611+22

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Oxford University Press 462:3 (2016) 2518-2526

Authors:

K Rajwade, A Seymour, DR Lorimer, Aris Karastergiou, M Serylak, MA McLaughlin, J-M Griessmeier

Abstract:

We report results from simultaneous radio and X-ray observations of PSR B0611+22 which is known to exhibit bursting in its single-pulse emission. The pulse phase of the bursts vary with radio frequency. The bursts are correlated in 327/150 MHz data sets while they are anti-correlated, with bursts at one frequency associated with normal emission at the other, in 820/150 MHz data sets. Also, the flux density of this pulsar is lower than expected at 327 MHz assuming a power law. We attribute this unusual behaviour to the pulsar itself rather than absorption by external astrophysical sources. Using this data set over an extensive frequency range, we show that the bursting phenomenon in this pulsar exhibits temporal variance over a span of few hours. We also show that the bursting is quasi-periodic over the observed band. The anti-correlation in the phase offset of the burst mode at different frequencies suggests that the mechanisms responsible for phase offset and flux enhancement have different dependencies on the frequency. We did not detect the pulsar with XMM-Newton and place a 99 per cent confidence upper limit on the X-ray efficiency of 10-5.

Gamma-ray Novae: Rare or Nearby?

(2016)

Authors:

Paul J Morris, Garret Cotter, Anthony M Brown, Paula M Chadwick

Flares, wind and nebulae: the 2015 December mini-outburst of V404 Cygni

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters Oxford University Press (OUP) (2016) slw222

Authors:

T Mu noz-Darias, J Casares, D Mata Sánchez, RP Fender, M Armas Padilla, K Mooley, L Hardy, PA Charles, G Ponti, SE Motta, VS Dhillon, P Gandhi, F Jiménez Ibarra, T Butterley, S Carey, KJB Grainge, J Hickish, SP Littlefair, YC Perrott, N Razavi-Ghods, C Rumsey, AMM Scaife, PF Scott, DJ Titterington, RW Wilson