2007ApJ...660L.121H

GCRT J1745-3009 is a transient bursting radio source located in the direction of the Galactic center. It was discovered in a 330 MHz VLA observation from 2002 September 30-October 1 and subsequently rediscovered in a 330 MHz GMRT observation from 2003 September 28 by Hyman et al. Here we report a new radio detection of the source in 330 MHz GMRT data taken on 2004 March 20. The observed properties of the single burst detected differ significantly from those measured previously. The 2004 flux density was ∼0.05 Jy, ∼10x weaker than the single 2003 burst and ∼30x weaker than the five bursts detected in 2002. We derive a very steep spectral index, α=-13.5±3.0, across the bandpass, a new result previously not obtained in the 2002 and 2003 observations. Also, the burst was detected for only ∼2 minutes, in contrast to the ∼10 minute duration observed in the earlier bursts. Due to sparse sampling, only the single burst was detected in 2004, as in the 2003 epoch, and we cannot completely rule out additional undetected bursts that may have occurred with the same ∼77 minute periodicity observed in 2002 or with a different periodicity. Considering our total time on source throughout both our archival and active monitoring campaigns, we estimate the source exhibits detectable bursting activity ∼7% of the time.