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arXiv · 2610.28347

Revisiting the Unknown Unknowns in Transient Astrophysics with the SKA Telescopes

A. Andersson·M. Caleb·J. Callingham·A. Deller·D. Dobie·N. Hurley-Walker·B. Marcote·K. Rajwade·A. Rowlinson·B. Stappers·M. Trudu·H. Vedantham·A. Weltman
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Abstract

It was already recognised in the 2004 and 2014 SKA Science Case Chapters: "The Exploration of the Unknown" and "The SKA and the Unknown Unknowns", respectively, that the exploration of the unknown is an extremely important concept in realising the potential of any new instrument. This is especially true in an era of limited budgets but expanding analysis algorithms and capabilities. While this Chapter considers transients and environments, the ethos of these previous Chapters should be considered and embraced broadly and can be applied more broadly across SKAO science. We do not repeat in detail the important background these Chapters provide but encourage the reader to review them before reading this Chapter. In the last decade of radio transient astronomy, we have seen the value of these approaches with the expansion of the FRB population, the discovery of long period pulsars and transients and radio emission from white dwarfs to name just a few. With the SKAO, we should push the explored parameter space further and in new directions in all of the sensitivity, field-of-view, time, spectral, spectro-dynamic, polarisation and imaging domains. We should utilise approaches such as machine learning in allowing us to address the complexity that arises from the expanded parameter space and increased data rates and candidate sources. We will briefly summarise some of the impressive progress that the SKA pathfinders and precursors have made in these areas and what these mean for the SKA telescopes. We will also discuss ways in which it might be possible to push the current capabilities.

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A. Andersson, M. Caleb, J. Callingham, A. Deller, D. Dobie, N. Hurley-Walker, B. Marcote, K. Rajwade, A. Rowlinson, B. Stappers, M. Trudu, H. Vedantham, A. Weltman. 2026-10-20. Revisiting the Unknown Unknowns in Transient Astrophysics with the SKA Telescopes. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.28347

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