Radio transients
The astronomical institute in Amsterdam hosts the transient key project group of the Low-frequency Array (LOFAR), and thus effectively serves as a main center of research into radio transients in the Netherlands. LOFAR is a new radio telescope built in the Netherlands, and the radio transients group in Amsterdam (with its foreign collaborators) busies itself with the preparations for the discovery of radio transients once LOFAR is fully online, monitoring the sky 24/7.
Radio transients are at the one end of the electromagnetic spectrum, and complement the research done by other groups in Amsterdam nicely. Because LOFAR probes a longer wavelength regime than most radio telescope, and has a huge band width (globally, 10 - 240 MHz), it is hoped and expected that LOFAR will bring many new, and new types of, radio transients.
Amsterdam is also the centre of the AARTFAAC project, which aims to use the LOFAR core stations simultaneously with normal LOFAR operations, to provide a 24/7 all-sky radio sky monitor. Ultimately, this all-sky monitor will provide images at a 1 second interval, and thus provide an unprecedented view of the low-frequency radio sky.
Contact persons are:
The following people are working on this topic: