A search for optical bursts from the rotating radio transient J1819-1458 with ULTRACAM - II. Simultaneous ULTRACAM-Lovell telescope observations

The rotating radio transient (RRAT) J1819-1458 exhibits ∼3ms bursts in the radio every ∼3min, implying that it is visible for only ∼1s per day. Assuming that the optical light behaves in a similar manner, long exposures of the field would be relatively insensitive due to the accumulation of sky photons. A much better way of detecting optical emission from J1819-1458 would then be to observe with a high-speed optical camera simultaneously with radio observations, and co-add only those optical frames coincident with the dispersion-corrected radio bursts. We present the results of such a search, using simultaneous ULTRACAM and Lovell Telescope observations. We find no evidence for optical bursts in J1819-1458 at magnitudes brighter than i'= 19.3 (5σ limit). This is nearly 3mag fainter than the previous burst limit, which had no simultaneous radio observations. © 2011 The Authors Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2011 RAS.