P. K. MANOHARAN
Articles written in Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy
Volume 27 Issue 2-3 June 2006 pp 151-157
North-south distribution of solar flares during cycle 23
Bhuwan Joshi P. Pant P. K. Manoharan
In this paper, we investigate the spatial distribution of solar flares in the northern and southern hemispheres of the Sun that occurred during the period 1996 to 2003. This period of investigation includes the ascending phase, the maximum and part of the descending phase of solar cycle 23. It is revealed that the flare activity during this cycle is low compared to the previous solar cycle, indicating the violation of Gnevyshev-Ohl rule. The distribution of flares with respect to heliographic latitudes shows a significant asymmetry between northern and southern hemisphere which is maximum during the minimum phase of the solar cycle. The present study indicates that the activity dominates the northern hemisphere in general during the rising phase of the cycle (1997–2000). The dominance of northern hemisphere shifted towards the southern hemisphere after the solar maximum in 2000 and remained there in the successive years. Although the annual variations in the asymmetry time series during cycle 23 are quite different from cycle 22, they are comparable to cycle 21.
Volume 27 Issue 2-3 June 2006 pp 219-226
Space weather effects of coronal mass ejection
K. N. Iyer R. M. Jadav A. K. Jadeja P. K. Manoharan Som Sharma Hari Om Vats
This paper describes the space weather effects of a major CME which was accompanied by extremely violent events on the Sun. The signatures of the event in the interplanetary medium (IPM) sensed by Ooty Radio Telescope, the solar observations by LASCO coronagraph onboard SOHO, GOES X-ray measurements, satellite measurements of the interplanetary parameters, GPS based ionospheric measurements, the geomagnetic storm parameter Dst and ground based ionosonde data are used in the study to understand the space weather effects in the different regions of the solar-terrestrial environment. The effects of this event are compared and possible explanations attempted.
Volume 29 Issue 1-2 March 2008 pp 287-291
Ajaysinh K. Jadeja K. N. Iyer Hari Om Vats P. K. Manoharan
Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are important phenomena in coronal dynamics causing interplanetary signatures (ICMEs). They eject large amounts of mass and magnetic fields into the heliosphere, causing major geomagnetic storms and interplanetary shocks. Geomagnetic storms are often characterized by abrupt increases in the northward component of the earth’s field, called sudden commencements (SSC) followed by large decreases of the magnetic field and slow recovery to normal values. The SSCs are well correlated with IP shocks. Here a case study of 10–15 February 2000 and also the statistical study of CME events observed by IPS array, Rajkot, during the years 2000 to 2003 and Radio Astronomy Center, Ooty are described. The geomagnetic storm index Dst, which is a measure of geo-effectiveness, is shown to be well correlated with normalized scintillation index `g', derived from Ooty Radio Telescope (ORT) observations.
Volume 38 Issue 1 March 2017 Article ID 0010 Review Article
C. R. Subrahmanya P. K. Manoharan Jayaram N. Chengalur
We describe here an ongoing upgrade to the legacy Ooty Radio Telescope (ORT). The ORT is a cylindrical parabolic cylinder 530 m × 30 m in size operating at a frequency of 326.5 (or $z \sim 3.35$ for the HI 21-cm line). The telescope has been constructed on a North–South hill slope whose gradient is equal to the latitude of the hill, making it effectively equatorially mounted. The feed consists of an array of 1056 dipoles. The key feature of this upgrade is the digitization and cross-correlation of the signals of every set of 4-dipoles. This converts the ORT into a 264 element interferometer with a field-of-view of $ 2^{\circ} \times 27.4^{\circ} \cos(\delta)$. This upgraded instrument is called the Ooty Wide Field Array (OWFA). This paper briefly describes the salient features of the upgrade, as well as its main science drivers. There are three main science drivers viz. (1) observations of the large scale distribution of HI in the post-reionization era, (2) studies of the propagation of plasma irregularities through the inner heliosphere and (3) blind surveys for transient sources. More details on the upgrade, as well as on the expected science uses can be found in other papers in this special issue.
Volume 38 Issue 1 March 2017 Article ID 0011 Review Article
The Receiver System for the Ooty Wide Field Array
C. R. Subrahmanya P. Prasad B. S. Girish R. Somashekar P. K. Manoharan A. K. Mittal
The legacy Ooty Radio Telescope (ORT) is being reconfigured as a 264-element synthesis telescope, called the Ooty Wide Field Array (OWFA). Its antenna elements are the contiguous 1.92 m sections of the parabolic cylinder. It will operate in a 38-MHz frequency band centred at 326.5 MHz and will be equipped with a digital receiver including a 264-element spectral correlator with a spectral resolution of 48 kHz. OWFA is designed to retain the benefits of equatorial mount, continuous 9-hour tracking ability and large collecting area of the legacy telescope and use of modern digital techniques to enhance the instantaneous field-of-view by more than an order of magnitude. OWFA has unique advantages for contemporary investigations related to large scale structure, transient events and space weather watch. In this paper, we describe the RF subsystems, digitizers and fibre optic communication of OWFA and highlight some specific aspects of the system relevant for the observations planned during the initial operation.
Volume 38 Issue 1 March 2017 Article ID 0016 Review Article
Space Weather and Solar Wind Studies with OWFA
P. K. Manoharan C. R. Subrahmanya J. N. Chengalur
In this paper, we review the results of interplanetary scintillation (IPS) observations made with the legacy system of the Ooty Radio Telescope (ORT) and compare them with the possibilities opened by the upgraded ORT, the Ooty Wide Field Array (OWFA). The stability and the sensitivity of the legacy system of ORT allowed the regular monitoring of IPS on a grid of large number of radio sources and the results of these studies have been useful to understand the physical processes in the heliosphere and space weather events, such as coronal mass ejections, interaction regions and their propagation effects. In the case of OWFA, its wide bandwidth of 38 MHz, the large field-of-view of $\sim$27$^\circ$ and increased sensitivity provide a unique capability for the heliospheric science at 326.5 MHz. IPS observations with the OWFA would allow one to monitor more than 5000 sources per day. This, in turn, will lead to much improved studies of space weather events and solar wind plasma, overcoming the limitations faced with the legacy system. We also highlight some of the specific aspects of the OWFA, potentially relevant for the studies of coronal plasma and its turbulence characteristics.
Volume 39 Issue 4 August 2018 Article ID 0051 Review
Precision pulsar timing with the ORT and the GMRT and its applications in pulsar astrophysics
BHAL CHANDRA JOSHI PRAKASH ARUMUGASAMY MANJARI BAGCHI DEBADES BANDYOPADHYAY AVISHEK BASU NEELAM DHANDA BATRA SURYARAO BETHAPUDI ARPITA CHOUDHARY KISHALAY DE L. DEY A. GOPAKUMAR Y. GUPTA M. A. KRISHNAKUMAR YOGESH MAAN P. K. MANOHARAN ARUN NAIDU RANA NANDI DHRUV PATHAK MAYURESH SURNIS ABHIMANYU SUSOBHANAN
Radio pulsars show remarkable clock-like stability, which make them useful astronomy tools in experiments to test equation of state of neutron stars and detecting gravitational waves using pulsar timing techniques. A brief review of relevant astrophysical experiments is provided in this paper highlighting thecurrent state-of-the-art of these experiments. A program to monitor frequently glitching pulsars with Indian radio telescopes using high cadence observations is presented, with illustrations of glitches detected in this program, including the largest ever glitch in PSR B0531 $+$ 21. An Indian initiative to discover sub-$\mu$Hz gravitational waves, called Indian Pulsar Timing Array (InPTA), is also described briefly, where time-of-arrival uncertainties and post-fit residuals of the order of $\mu$s are already achievable, comparable to other international pulsar timing array experiments. While timing the glitches and their recoveries are likely to provide constraints on the structure of neutron stars, InPTA will provide upper limits on sub-$\mu$Hz gravitational waves apart from auxiliary pulsarscience. Future directions for these experiments are outlined.
Volume 43 All articles Published: 8 December 2022 Article ID 0098 SCIENTIFIC REVIEW
Nanohertz gravitational wave astronomy during SKA era: An InPTA perspective
BHAL CHANDRA JOSHI ACHAMVEEDU GOPAKUMAR ARUL PANDIAN THIAGARAJ PRABU LANKESWAR DEY MANJARI BAGCHI SHANTANU DESAI PRATIK TARAFDAR PRERNA RANA YOGESH MAAN NEELAM DHANDA BATRA RAGHAV GIRGAONKAR NIKITA AGARWAL PARAMASIVAN ARUMUGAM AVISHEK BASU ADARSH BATHULA SUBHAJIT DANDAPAT YASHWANT GUPTA SHINNOSUKE HISANO RYO KATO DIVYANSH KHARBANDA TOMONOSUKE KIKUNAGA NEEL KOLHE M. A. KRISHNAKUMAR P. K. MANOHARAN PIYUSH MARMAT ARUN NAIDU SARMISTHA BANIK K. NOBLESON AVINASH KUMAR PALADI DHRUV PATHAK JAIKHOMBA SINGHA AMAN SRIVASTAVA MAYURESH SURNIS SAI CHAITANYA SUSARLA ABHIMANYU SUSOBHANAN1 KEITARO TAKAHASHI
Decades long monitoring of millisecond pulsars, which exhibit highly stable rotational periods in pulsar timing array experiments is on the threshold of discovering nanohertz stochastic gravitational wave background. This paper describes the Indian pulsar timing array (InPTA) experiment, which employs the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT) for timing an ensemble of millisecond pulsars for thispurpose. We highlight InPTA’s observation strategies and analysis methods, which are relevant for a future PTA experiment with the more sensitive Square Kilometer Array (SKA) telescope. We show that the unique multi-sub-array multi-band wide-bandwidth frequency coverage of the InPTA, provides dispersion measureestimates with unprecedented precision for PTA pulsars, e.g., $\sim$$2 \times 10^{−5}$ pc cm$^{−3}$ for PSR J1909-3744. Configuring the SKA-low and SKA-mid as two and four sub-arrays, respectively, it is shown that comparable precision is achievable, using observation strategies similar to those pursued by the InPTA, for a larger sample of 62 pulsars, requiring about 26 and 7 h per epoch for the SKA-mid and the SKA-low telescopes, respectively. We also review the ongoing efforts to develop PTA-relevant general relativistic constructs that will be required to search for nanohertz gravitational waves from isolated super-massive black hole binary systems like blazar OJ 287. These efforts should be relevant to pursue persistent multi-messenger gravitational wave astronomy during the forthcoming era of the SKA telescope, the thirty meter telescope, and the next-generation eventhorizon telescope.
Volume 44, 2023
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