Speaker
Description
SKA precursors and pathfinders are discovering novel transients across an immense range of astrophysical regimes - from flare stars to FRBs. I will discuss recent serendipitous and untargeted discoveries of a range of stellar transients made possible by repeat sampling of wide parts of the sky by both the MeerKAT and ASKAP telescopes, revealing a diversity in stellar radio astronomy and a wealth of active and dynamic stellar systems in our Galaxy. I will demonstrate how the resolution and sensitivity of the precursors and later the SKA itself are crucial for detecting these transients at scale.
Discovery and follow-up of these stellar radio bursts gives crucial insight into the magnetospheres of stars and the space weather in their environments. To date there have been very few confirmed solar radio burst analogues that are correlated with space weather effects. Furthermore, the prevalence and effects of such space weather are a crucial piece of the puzzle to investigating the abundance or dearth of life in the Universe. I will discuss ongoing searches for technosignatures with SKA precursors, how these searches may be affected by such stellar activity and what these observations imply for the habitability of any hosted exoplanets. Finally, the sensitivity of the SKA will allow for the first searches for non-directional leakage radiation from the nearest star systems for the first time and I will discuss how targeted and commensal observing strategies will be able to place the tightest constraints on one of the most fundamental questions in science.
