Parkes observations for project P892 semester 2016OCTS_BPSR_01

SUPERBx is an extension to the SUPERB survey which looks at the highest Galactic latitudes in a search for fast radio bursts (FRBs). Our most recent results show that there is a strong Galactic latitude dependence to FRB detectability with the detection rate being 4 times higher ~45 degrees and higher above the plane; this is where SUPERBx will focus its efforts from now on. SUPERBx uses optimised GPU codes to search for pulsars and fast radio bursts (FRBs), making discoveries in real time. Handling our data as it comes in is essential for the SKA Phase I era so this work applies directly to the high-data rates of next generation telescopes. The FRBs discovered (we have already discovered four FRBs in this project) will have much more associated information than all previous detections. Firstly our discovery lag is ~1 second, rather than months/years. The Parkes observations will be shadowed by other radio telescopes (in particular the refurbished Molonglo which has now reached a level of performance where it has independently discovered 3 FRBs in 2016) to allow localisation of the discovered FRBs, and a host of optical and high-energy telescopes will then be triggered as appropriate. This is key for identifying FRB host galaxies, so as to solve the mystery of their progenitors and to exploit their many uses as tools for precision cosmology measurements.

SUPERBx是SUPERB巡天的扩展项目，旨在覆盖银纬极高的天区以搜寻快速射电暴（fast radio bursts, FRBs）。我们的最新研究结果表明，FRB的可探测性存在显著的银纬依赖性：在银纬约45度及银纬更高的天区，探测率是其他区域的4倍——这也将是SUPERBx未来的核心观测方向。SUPERBx采用优化的GPU代码开展脉冲星与快速射电暴搜寻，可实现实时发现。在平方公里阵列（Square Kilometre Array, SKA）第一阶段的观测范式中，实时处理流入的数据至关重要，因此本项目的技术方案可直接适配下一代望远镜的高数据率需求。本项目目前已发现4例FRB，其附带的关联信息将远多于此前所有已探测到的FRB：其一，本项目的发现延迟仅约1秒，而非数月乃至数年。帕克斯（Parkes）望远镜的观测将得到其他射电望远镜的协同补全（尤其是已完成升级的莫朗格洛（Molonglo）望远镜，其性能已达到可在2016年独立发现3例FRB的水平），以实现对已探测FRB的精确定位；随后将根据实际需求触发一系列光学与高能望远镜开展后续观测。这一环节对于确定FRB的宿主星系、破解其起源之谜，以及将其作为精密宇宙学测量工具开发各类应用而言，均为核心关键。