Parkes observations for project P1056 semester 2020OCTS_05

MeerTRAP is a project that performs real-time, commensal searches for fast radio transients using the MeerKAT telescope in South Africa. It has thus far led to the discovery of five new Galactic fast radio transients, most likely Rotating Radio Transient pulsars (RRATs), with modest amounts of time on sky and we expect to discover many more. We have already carried out successful observations of one of these sources with the Parkes UWL receiver (P1056), thus proving its utility in follow-up timing observations of MeerTRAP discoveries. We therefore request search-mode observations of all five sources aswell as provision for another five that we expect to discover before the start of the 2020OCT semester. The Parkes observations will be essential for determining their timing properties, such their as periods and period derivatives, and will elucidate the nature of these sources through their polarisation, emission and spectral properties across the wide bandwidth of the UWLreceiver. This will allow us to identify their place among the known pulsar population and will be highly valuable input to understand the extent of the RRAT population and pulsar emission behaviour.

MeerTRAP是一项依托南非MeerKAT望远镜开展实时同步并行快速射电暂现源搜寻的科研项目。截至目前，该项目仅通过少量望远镜观测时长，便已发现5颗新的银河系内快速射电暂现源，其中极大概率为旋转射电暂现脉冲星（Rotating Radio Transient pulsars, RRATs），且我们预计后续还将发现更多此类源。我们已利用帕克斯UWL接收机（Parkes UWL receiver，编号P1056）对其中一颗源完成成功观测，验证了该设备可用于MeerTRAP发现源的后续计时观测。因此我们申请对上述5颗源开展搜寻模式观测，并预留观测资源以应对2020年10月观测学期开始前有望发现的另外5颗源。帕克斯望远镜的观测对于测定这些源的计时特性（如周期及周期导数）至关重要，同时可通过UWL接收机宽带宽下的偏振、辐射及光谱特性，阐明这些源的本质。这将帮助我们明确其在已知脉冲星族群中的定位，并为理解旋转射电暂现脉冲星族群的分布范围及脉冲星辐射行为提供极具价值的研究依据。