Explosive and radio-selected Transients: Transient Astronomy with SKA and its Precursors

TL;DR

The paper discusses how the SKA will revolutionize transient astronomy by enabling the discovery and detailed study of various explosive and radio-selected transients across multiple wavelengths, with implications for understanding cosmic phenomena.

Contribution

It highlights the potential of SKA and its precursors to uncover new transient phenomena and resolve existing debates in supernova progenitors and gamma-ray burst populations.

Findings

SKA will detect fainter gamma-ray bursts and orphan afterglows.

Optical dust extinction effects on supernova rates will be mitigated.

Detection of gravitationally lensed supernovae and counterparts to gravitational waves is expected.

Abstract

With the high sensitivity and wide-field coverage of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), large samples of explosive transients are expected to be discovered. Radio wavelengths, especially in commensal survey mode, are particularly well suited for uncovering the complex transient phenomena. This is because observations at radio wavelengths may suffer less obscuration than in other bands (e.g. optical/IR or X-rays) due to dust absorption. At the same time, multiwaveband information often provides critical source classification rapidly than possible with only radio band data. Therefore, multiwaveband observational efforts with wide fields of view will be the key to progress of transients astronomy from the middle 2020s offering unprecedented deep images and high spatial and spectral resolutions. Radio observations of gamma ray bursts (GRBs) with SKA will uncover not only much fainter bursts and verifying claims of sensitivity limited population versus intrinsically dim GRBs, they will also unravel the enigmatic population of orphan afterglows. The supernova rate problem caused by dust extinction in optical bands is expected to be lifted in the SKA era. In addition, the debate of single degenerate scenario versus double degenerate scenario will be put to rest for the progenitors of thermonuclear supernovae, since highly sensitive measurements will lead to very accurate mass loss estimation in these supernovae. One also expects to detect gravitationally lensed supernovae in far away Universe in the SKA bands. Radio counterparts of the gravitational waves are likely to become a reality once SKA comes online. In addition, SKA is likely to discover various new kinds of transients.