MeerKAT radio detection of XTE J1701-462 in outburst

ATel #15621; Kelebogile Gasealahwe (UCT, SAAO), Sara E. Motta (INAF-OAB, Oxford), Jakob van den Eijnden (Oxford), Rob Fender (Oxford, UCT), James Miller-Jones (Curtin), Patrick Woudt (UCT), Itumeleng Monageng (UCT, SAAO) et al., on behalf of the ThunderKAT collaboration
on 20 Sep 2022; 13:45 UT
Credential Certification: Jakob Van den Eijnden (a.j.vandeneijnden@uva.nl)

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The MeerKAT observations of XTE J1701-462 starting on 2022-09-07T15:35:10.4 and 2022-09-09T16:50:25.3 UTC reported preliminary imaging with two 3-sigma upper limits (from ATel#15617). Radio observations continued as part of the ThunderKAT Large Survey Programme (Fender et al. 2017, arXiv:1711.04132). We observed the source starting on 2022-09-16T17:03:04.6 UTC at a central frequency of 1.28 GHz. XTE J1701-462 was observed for 15 min, with PKS 1934-638 as the primary calibrator and J1744-5144 as the phase calibrator. Basic imaging of the data has been performed with a dedicated pipeline (OxKAT, Heywood 2020, 2020ascl.soft09003H). We report here on the preliminary detection of the source at 0.33 +/- 0.02 mJy/beam. This is the first radio detection of this source since the discovery outburst in 2006 (ATel #15594, Homan et al. 2010, ApJ, 719, 201).

This detection is similar to the radio flux density levels reported by Fender et al. (2007, MNRAS 380, L25) during the Z-state of its previous outburst. Therefore, the radio observation is consistent with a transition of the source to the Z-state.

We will continue to weekly monitor this outburst of XTE J1701-462 with MeerKAT, as well as with Swift as part of the associated X-ray follow-up observing program.

ThunderKAT will run for 5 years and targets X-ray binaries, Cataclysmic Variables, Supernovae and Gamma-Ray Bursts. As part of this programme, we perform weekly monitoring observations of all bright, active, southern hemisphere X-ray binaries in the radio band. For further information on this programme please contact Rob Fender and/or Patrick Woudt.

We thank the staff at the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) for their rapid scheduling of these observations. The MeerKAT telescope is operated by SARAO, which is a facility of the National Research Foundation, an agency of the Department of Science and Innovation.