Detection of a Low-frequency Cosmic Radio Transient Using Two LWA Stations

TL;DR

This paper reports the detection of a rare low-frequency cosmic radio transient using two LWA stations, with a potential association to a supernova, highlighting the capabilities of archival data analysis for transient discovery.

Contribution

First detection of a low-frequency cosmic radio transient using archival data from two LWA stations, suggesting new avenues for transient astronomy.

Findings

Transient detected at 34 MHz with 15-20 seconds duration

Flux density measured around 830-840 Jy

Potential association with a supernova event

Abstract

We report the detection of a potential cosmic radio transient source using the two stations of the Long Wavelength Array. The transient was detected on 18 October 2017 08:47 UTC near the celestial equator while reducing 10,240 hours of archival all-sky images from the LWA1 and LWA-SV stations. The detected transient at 34 MHz has a duration of 15 - 20 seconds and a flux density of 842 +/- 116 Jy at LWA1 and 830 +/- 92 Jy at LWA-SV. The transient source has not repeated, and its nature is not well understood. The Pan-STARRS optical telescope has detected a supernova that occurred on the edge of the position error circle of the transient on the same day.