Parkes observations for project P892 semester 2016OCTS_BPSR_39

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，旨在观测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，FRBs的可探测性存在显著的银纬依赖性：在银道面上方约45度及更高纬度处，其探测率约为其他区域的4倍，这也将成为SUPERBx未来的核心观测方向。SUPERBx采用优化的图形处理器（Graphics Processing Unit, GPU）代码，用于搜索脉冲星与快速射电暴，并可实现实时发现。在平方千米阵列（Square Kilometre Array, SKA）第一阶段，实时处理传入数据至关重要，因此本研究可直接适配下一代望远镜的高数据率场景。本项目已发现的FRBs（目前我们已在本项目中发现4例FRBs）将比此前所有探测到的FRBs拥有更丰富的关联信息。其一，我们的发现延迟仅约1秒，而非数月乃至数年。帕克斯（Parkes）望远镜的观测将与其他射电望远镜（尤其是2016年已独立发现3例FRBs、性能已达全新水平的翻新后莫隆格洛（Molonglo）望远镜）协同，以实现对已发现FRBs的精确定位；随后将根据需要触发一系列光学与高能望远镜开展观测。这一环节对于确定FRBs的宿主星系至关重要，从而破解其起源之谜，并将其作为精密宇宙学测量工具以发挥其多重应用价值。