Spatially Resolved Observations of Meteor Radio Afterglows With the OVRO‐LWA

Abstract

We conducted an all‐sky imaging transient search with the Owens Valley Radio Observatory Long Wavelength Array (OVRO‐LWA) data collected during the Perseid meteor shower in 2018. The data collection during the meteor shower was motivated to conduct a search for intrinsic radio emission from meteors below 60 MHz known as the meteor radio afterglows (MRAs). The data collected were calibrated and imaged using the core array to obtain lower angular resolution images of the sky. These images were input to a pre‐existing LWA transient search pipeline to search for MRAs as well as cosmic radio transients. This search detected 5 MRAs and did not find any cosmic transients. We further conducted peeling of bright sources, near‐field correction, visibility differencing and higher angular resolution imaging using the full array for these 5 MRAs. These higher angular resolution images were used to study their plasma emission structures and monitor their evolution as a function of frequency and time. With higher angular resolution imaging, we resolved the radio emission size scales to less than 1 km physical size at 100 km heights. The spectral index mapping of one of the long duration event showed signs of diffusion of plasma within the meteor trails. The unpolarized emission from the resolved radio components suggest resonant transition radiation as the possible radiation mechanism of MRAs.