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Blazar monitoring with LOFAR

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2015

Sara Turriziani
Affiliation:
Dip. Fisica, Università degli studi di Roma “Tor Vergata” via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy email: sara.turriziani@roma2.infn.it
Martin Hardcastle
Affiliation:
School of Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics, University of Hertfordshire College Lane, Hatfield AL10 9AB, UK email: m.j.hardcastle@herts.ac.uk
James Miller-Jones
Affiliation:
International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Curtin University GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia email: james.miller-jones@curtin.edu.au
Jess Broderick
Affiliation:
Astrophysics, Department of Physics, Oxford University Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH email: Jess.Broderick@astro.ox.ac.uk
Sera Markoff
Affiliation:
Astronomical Institute “Anton Pannekoek”, University of Amsterdam Science Park 904, 1098XH, Amsterdam, the Netherlands email: s.b.markoff@uva.nl
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Abstract

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We have been monitoring some well-known bright blazars with short LOFAR observations since February 2013 with fortnightly cadence using the full available bandwidth of the High Band Antennas (i.e., 48 MHz centred at 226 MHz). The sources were chosen to be bright at low frequencies and to exhibit strong GHz-frequency radio variability on timescales of weeks to years. None of the five objects selected have been monitored previously in the MHz band. Here we report some preliminary results on flux variability obtained so far with LOFAR. These observations are scientifically valuable in their own right and also act as a proof of principle for broader, higher-cadence monitoring of the extragalactic sky with LOFAR and possibly SKA.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2015 

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