论文标题
从230 GHz ALMA观测值中首次搜索银河系中心的瞬态
A first search of transients in the Galactic Center from 230 GHz ALMA observations
论文作者
论文摘要
银河系中心(GC)提出了我们银河系中最高的恒星密度之一,使其周围环境成为潜在的无线电瞬变的环境,例如脉冲星和不同种类的耀斑活性。在本文中,我们介绍了基于Atacama大毫米/毫米/毫米(mm/submm)阵列(ALMA)连续观测的GC区域的瞬态活性的首次研究。该搜索基于一种新的自我校准算法,该算法尤其是为GC字段中的可变性检测而设计的。使用这种方法,我们在有效的〜$ \ sim 30 \,$ arcseconds中搜索了无线电瞬变。允许人们从更广泛的视野中的任何潜在的瞬态发射和不完美的数据校准的残差效应中解散未解决的SGRA*的可变性。因此,可以建立一个可靠的统计标准来确定实际瞬变:该事件应至少生存的相关时间至少三倍,并且它必须具有至少是连续图像之间瞬时根平方平方英尺的七倍。我们的算法已成功地针对GC场中瞬时源的现实合成模拟进行了测试。在检查了统计标准的有效性之后,我们在230 GHz的GC有效视野中提供了瞬态活性的上限。
The Galactic Center (GC) presents one of the highest stellar densities in our Galaxy, making its surroundings an environment potentially rich in radio transients, such as pulsars and different kinds of flaring activity. In this paper, we present the first study of transient activity in the region of the GC based on Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter (mm/submm) Array (ALMA) continuum observations at 230 GHz. This search is based on a new self-calibration algorithm, especially designed for variability detection in the GC field. Using this method, we have performed a search of radio transients in the effective field of view of~$\sim 30\,$arcseconds of the GC central supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (SgrA*) using ALMA 230 GHz observations taken during the 2017 Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) campaign, which span several observing hours (5-10) on 2017 April 6, 7, and 11. This calibration method allows one to disentangle the variability of unresolved SgrA* from any potential transient emission in the wider field of view and residual effects of the imperfect data calibration. Hence, a robust statistical criterion to identify real transients can be established: the event should survive at least three times the correlation time and it must have a peak excursion of at least seven times the instantaneous root-mean-square between consecutive images. Our algorithms are successfully tested against realistic synthetic simulations of transient sources in the GC field. Having checked the validity of the statistical criterion, we provide upper limits for transient activity in the effective field of view of the GC at 230 GHz.