Parkes observations for project P892 semester 2016OCTS_BPSR_47

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，旨在对银道纬度最高的天区开展快速射电暴（fast radio bursts, FRBs）搜寻。我们的最新研究结果表明，快速射电暴的可探测性与银道纬度存在显著相关性：在银道面上方约45度及更高纬度处，探测率可达其他区域的4倍；这一区域也将成为SUPERBx未来的核心观测方向。SUPERBx采用优化后的图形处理器（Graphics Processing Unit, GPU）代码开展脉冲星与快速射电暴的搜寻工作，可实现实时科学发现。在平方公里阵列第一阶段（SKA Phase I）时代，实时处理流式传入的观测数据至关重要，因此本项目的相关技术可直接适配下一代望远镜的高数据吞吐量场景。本项目已发现的快速射电暴（目前本项目已探测到4例），其关联的观测信息将远超此前所有探测到的快速射电暴。首先，本项目的发现延迟仅约1秒，而非数月乃至数年。帕克斯（Parkes）射电望远镜的观测将与其他射电望远镜协同开展，其中尤以经过翻新的莫隆格洛（Molonglo）射电望远镜为代表，其性能已达到可独立开展探测的水准，并于2016年独立发现了3例快速射电暴，以实现对新发现快速射电暴的精确定位；随后将按需触发大量光学与高能望远镜开展后续观测。这一环节对于识别快速射电暴宿主星系至关重要，进而可破解其前身天体的未解之谜，并充分挖掘其作为精密宇宙学测量工具的诸多潜在应用价值。