Parkes observations for project P892 semester 2016OCTS_BPSR_50

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，旨在搜寻快速射电暴（fast radio bursts, FRBs），其观测覆盖极高银纬天区。我们的最新研究结果表明，快速射电暴的可探测性存在显著的银纬度依赖性：在银道面上方约45度及更高银纬区域，其探测率是其他区域的4倍——这也正是SUPERBx项目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，可实现实时天文发现。在平方千米阵列（Square Kilometre Array, SKA）一期运行时代，实时处理流式观测数据是核心需求，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观测场景。本项目已发现的快速射电暴（目前已在该项目中探测到4例FRB）将拥有远超此前所有探测案例的关联观测信息。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）望远镜的观测将与其他射电望远镜（尤其是已完成升级改造的莫朗格洛（Molonglo）望远镜——该望远镜目前已达到可独立探测快速射电暴的性能水准，并于2016年独立发现了3例FRB）的观测形成协同，以实现对已探测FRB的精确定位；随后将根据实际观测需求触发一系列光学与高能波段望远镜开展后续观测。这对于确定快速射电暴的宿主星系至关重要，进而帮助我们解开其起源之谜，并将其作为精密宇宙学测量的关键工具加以利用。