Overview of the program
PITCH-BLACK is a current Large program on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). This telescope is located on the slopes of Maunakea, Hawaii, and operates in the sub-millimetre wavebands.
This program is allocated 256 hrs of telescope time over three years (February 2020 - February 2023), to utilize the SCUBA-2 (continuum bolometer) and POL-2 (polarimeter) instruments.
The observing targets of this program are outbursting black hole X-ray binary systems in our Galaxy, that launch relativistic jets. As these objects are transient in nature, this is a ToO (target of opportunity) program.
Our main goals are to sample jet production in a range of different sources and accretion regimes, allowing us to gain crucial insights into jet physics, particle acceleration, and how these processes depend on the accretion flow properties. To accomplish these goals we will perform two types of observations; (1) time domain (probing timescales as short as seconds), and (2) polarization measurements.
We have currently triggered on Swift J1727.8-1613.
Contact Info
Email: alexandra.tetarenko[at]uleth.ca
**Website Last Updated: Aug 2023**