Radio Bursts With Extragalactic Spectral Characteristics Show Terrestrial Origins
Three years ago, the report of a solitary radio burst was thought to be the first discovery of a rare, impulsive event of unknown extragalactic origin. The extragalactic interpretation was based on the swept-frequency nature of the event, which followed the dispersive delay expected from an extragal...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Institute of Physics Publishing, Inc.
2011
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/2655 |
| _version_ | 1848744013358694400 |
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| author | Burke-Spolaor, S. Bailes, M. Ekers, Ronald Macquart, Jean-Pierre Crawford III, F. |
| author_facet | Burke-Spolaor, S. Bailes, M. Ekers, Ronald Macquart, Jean-Pierre Crawford III, F. |
| author_sort | Burke-Spolaor, S. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Three years ago, the report of a solitary radio burst was thought to be the first discovery of a rare, impulsive event of unknown extragalactic origin. The extragalactic interpretation was based on the swept-frequency nature of the event, which followed the dispersive delay expected from an extragalactic pulse. We report here on the detection of 16 pulses, the bulk of which exhibit a frequency sweep with a shape and magnitude resembling the Lorimer Burst. These new events were detected in a sidelobe of the Parkes Telescope and are of clearly terrestrial origin, with properties unlike any known sources of terrestrial broadband radio emission. The new detections cast doubt on the extragalactic interpretation of the original burst, and call for further sophistication in radio-pulse survey techniques to identify the origin of the anomalous terrestrial signals and definitively distinguish future extragalactic pulse detections from local signals. The ambiguous origin of these seemingly dispersed, swept-frequency signals suggests that radio-pulse searches using multiple detectors will be the only experiments able to provide definitive information about the origin of new swept-frequency radio burst detections. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T05:54:43Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-2655 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T05:54:43Z |
| publishDate | 2011 |
| publisher | Institute of Physics Publishing, Inc. |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-26552017-09-13T15:53:52Z Radio Bursts With Extragalactic Spectral Characteristics Show Terrestrial Origins Burke-Spolaor, S. Bailes, M. Ekers, Ronald Macquart, Jean-Pierre Crawford III, F. radio continuum: general atmospheric effects plasmas pulsars: general Three years ago, the report of a solitary radio burst was thought to be the first discovery of a rare, impulsive event of unknown extragalactic origin. The extragalactic interpretation was based on the swept-frequency nature of the event, which followed the dispersive delay expected from an extragalactic pulse. We report here on the detection of 16 pulses, the bulk of which exhibit a frequency sweep with a shape and magnitude resembling the Lorimer Burst. These new events were detected in a sidelobe of the Parkes Telescope and are of clearly terrestrial origin, with properties unlike any known sources of terrestrial broadband radio emission. The new detections cast doubt on the extragalactic interpretation of the original burst, and call for further sophistication in radio-pulse survey techniques to identify the origin of the anomalous terrestrial signals and definitively distinguish future extragalactic pulse detections from local signals. The ambiguous origin of these seemingly dispersed, swept-frequency signals suggests that radio-pulse searches using multiple detectors will be the only experiments able to provide definitive information about the origin of new swept-frequency radio burst detections. 2011 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/2655 10.1088/0004-637X/727/1/18 Institute of Physics Publishing, Inc. fulltext |
| spellingShingle | radio continuum: general atmospheric effects plasmas pulsars: general Burke-Spolaor, S. Bailes, M. Ekers, Ronald Macquart, Jean-Pierre Crawford III, F. Radio Bursts With Extragalactic Spectral Characteristics Show Terrestrial Origins |
| title | Radio Bursts With Extragalactic Spectral Characteristics Show Terrestrial Origins |
| title_full | Radio Bursts With Extragalactic Spectral Characteristics Show Terrestrial Origins |
| title_fullStr | Radio Bursts With Extragalactic Spectral Characteristics Show Terrestrial Origins |
| title_full_unstemmed | Radio Bursts With Extragalactic Spectral Characteristics Show Terrestrial Origins |
| title_short | Radio Bursts With Extragalactic Spectral Characteristics Show Terrestrial Origins |
| title_sort | radio bursts with extragalactic spectral characteristics show terrestrial origins |
| topic | radio continuum: general atmospheric effects plasmas pulsars: general |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/2655 |