Parkes observations for project P958 semester 2018APRS_09

A major breakthrough in fast radio burst (FRB) astronomy was recently made when the repeating FRB 121102 was localized to sub-arcsecond precision. The bursts were found to originate in a bright radio nebula (hypothesized to be a young supernova remnant or pulsar wind nebulae) in a distant dwarf galaxy. These dwarf galaxies are also preferential hosts to superluminous supernova and long gamma-ray bursts, and it has been therefore suggested that the source of the repeating FRB could be a young highly magnetised neutron star. While an understanding of the repeating FRB is emerging, it is still unclear what relationship it has to the rest of the population. Over the next six months, searches with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) are poised to detect at least 20 additional FRBs, some that will be localized to a few arcseconds. Here we propose to search this population for repeats. Our comprehensive sample and a dense monitoring campaign of well localised bursts, at a fluence limit more than 60 times lower than that of their detections, will either confirm the presence of additional repeating FRBs or the uniqueness of FRB 121102 amongst the population.近年来，快速射电暴（Fast Radio Burst, FRB）天文学领域取得重大突破：重复暴FRB 121102被精确定位至亚角秒级精度。观测显示，该暴源自遥远矮星系内的一颗明亮射电星云，学界目前推测该星云为年轻超新星遗迹或脉冲星风云。这类矮星系同时也是超亮超新星与长伽马射线暴的优选宿主星系，因此有观点认为，重复FRB的源头可能为年轻强磁化中子星。尽管学界对重复FRB的认知正逐步加深，但目前仍不清楚其与其余FRB群体之间的具体关联。在未来六个月内，利用澳大利亚平方千米阵列探路者（Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder, ASKAP）开展的巡天搜索，有望至少额外探测到20例FRB，其中部分目标将被定位至数角秒的精度范围内。在此背景下，本研究提议针对该FRB群体开展重复暴搜寻工作。我们的完整观测样本，以及针对精确定位暴的高密度监测计划，其能流极限比此前探测结果低60倍以上，将要么证实存在额外的重复FRB，要么证明FRB 121102在整个FRB群体中具有独特性。