A search for rotating radio transients and fast radio bursts in the Parkes high-latitude pulsar survey

SummaryThe LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) is a radio interferometric telescope that promises to open a largely unexplored window on transient sources in the “radio sky”, from time-scales of nanoseconds to years. An important aspect of this will be the study of radio-emitting neutron stars in their various incarnations: slow pulsars, young pulsars, millisecond pulsars, magnetars, rotating radio transients, intermittent pulsars, et cetera. Pulsars and their brethren are the prototype of the more general “fast transients”: sub-second, dispersed radio bursts which point the way to extreme, and potentially still unknown, phenomena. For instance, prompt radio bursts from supernovæ and other extra-galactic bursts have been hypothesized; these could prove to be powerful cosmological probes.This talk discussed LOFAR's impressive ability to observe pulsars and to enlarge greatly the discovery space for (even rarer) fast transients. It also presented the latest pulsar observations made during LOFAR's commissioning period. These are demonstrating powerful observing techniques that will be crucial for the next generation of radio telescopes as well as the effort to increase our understanding of the dynamic nature of the Universe.An expanded version of the talk can be found at http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011A

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A GPU based single-pulse search pipeline (GSP) with database and its application to the Commensal Radio Astronomy FAST Survey (CRAFTS)

Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics ◽

10.1088/1674-4527/21/12/314 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 21 (12) ◽

pp. 314

Author(s):

Shan-Ping You ◽

Pei Wang ◽

Xu-Hong Yu ◽

Xiao-Yao Xie ◽

Di Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Radio Astronomy ◽

Data Streams ◽

Single Pulse ◽

Wide Band ◽

Radio Bursts ◽

Learning Tools ◽

Radio Pulsars ◽

Real Time Processing ◽

Radio Transients ◽

Rotating Radio Transients

Abstract We developed a GPU based single-pulse search pipeline (GSP) with a candidate-archiving database. Largely based upon the infrastructure of the open source PulsaR Exploration and Search Toolkit (PRESTO), GSP implements GPU acceleration of the de-dispersion and integrates a candidate-archiving database. We applied GSP to the data streams from the Commensal Radio Astronomy FAST Survey (CRAFTS), which resulted in quasi-real-time processing. The integrated candidate database facilitates synergistic usage of multiple machine-learning tools and thus improves efficient identification of radio pulsars such as rotating radio transients (RRATs) and fast radio bursts (FRBs). We first tested GSP on pilot CRAFTS observations with the FAST Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) receiver. GSP detected all pulsars known from the the Parkes multibeam pulsar survey in the corresponding sky area covered by the FAST-UWB. GSP also discovered 13 new pulsars. We measured the computational efficiency of GSP to be ∼120 times faster than the original PRESTO and ∼60 times faster than an MPI-parallelized version of PRESTO.

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Are fast radio bursts made by neutron stars?

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters ◽

10.1093/mnrasl/slaa038 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 494 (1) ◽

pp. L64-L68 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

J I Katz

Keyword(s):

Neutron Stars ◽

Accretion Disc ◽

Radio Bursts ◽

Soft Gamma Repeaters ◽

Magnetostatic Energy ◽

Radio Transients ◽

Rotating Radio Transients

ABSTRACT Popular models of repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs; and perhaps of all FRBs) involve neutron stars because of their high rotational or magnetostatic energy densities. These models take one of two forms: giant but rare pulsar-like pulses like those of rotating radio transients, and outbursts like those of soft gamma repeaters. Here I collate the evidence, recently strengthened, against these models, including the absence of Galactic micro-FRBs, and attribute the 16 d periodicity of FRB 180916.J0158+65 to the precession of a jet produced by a massive black hole’s accretion disc.

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Rotating Radio Transients: new discoveries, timing solutions and musings

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.18917.x ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 415 (4) ◽

pp. 3065-3080 ◽

Cited By ~ 119

Author(s):

E. F. Keane ◽

M. Kramer ◽

A. G. Lyne ◽

B. W. Stappers ◽

M. A. McLaughlin

Keyword(s):

Radio Transients ◽

Rotating Radio Transients

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GREENBURST: A commensal Fast Radio Burst search back-end for the Green Bank Telescope

Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia ◽

10.1017/pasa.2019.26 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 36 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Mayuresh P. Surnis ◽

D. Agarwal ◽

D. R. Lorimer ◽

X. Pei ◽

G. Foster ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Radio Burst ◽

High Sensitivity ◽

Pixel Detector ◽

Search System ◽

Dispersion Measures ◽

Fast Radio Burst ◽

Radio Transients ◽

Green Bank Telescope ◽

Single Pixel ◽

Rotating Radio Transients

Abstract We describe the design and deployment of GREENBURST, a commensal Fast Radio Burst (FRB) search system at the Green Bank Telescope. GREENBURST uses the dedicated L-band receiver tap to search over the 960–1 920 MHz frequency range for pulses with dispersion measures out to $10^4\ \rm{pc\,cm}^{-3}$ . Due to its unique design, GREENBURST is capable of conducting searches for FRBs when the L-band receiver is not being used for scheduled observing. This makes it a sensitive single pixel detector capable of reaching deeper in the radio sky. While single pulses from Galactic pulsars and rotating radio transients will be detectable in our observations, and will form part of the database we archive, the primary goal is to detect and study FRBs. Based on recent determinations of the all-sky rate, we predict that the system will detect approximately one FRB for every 2–3 months of continuous operation. The high sensitivity of GREENBURST means that it will also be able to probe the slope of the FRB fluence distribution, which is currently uncertain in this observing band.

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A model of an ion-proton radio pulsar polar cap

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/stz3112 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

P B Jones

Keyword(s):

Neutron Star ◽

Surface Temperature ◽

Emission Mechanism ◽

Polar Cap ◽

Ion Proton ◽

S Period ◽

Basic Equations ◽

Radio Transients ◽

Star Surface ◽

Rotating Radio Transients

Abstract A number of previous papers have developed an ion-proton theory of the pulsar polar cap. The basic equations summarizing this are given here with the results of sets of model step-to-step calculations of pulse-precursor profiles. The nature of step-to-step profile variations is described by calculated phase-resolved modulation indices. The conditions under which nulls are present in step sequences are analysed. The change of mean null length with neutron-star surface temperature shows a pathway ending in emission similar to the Rotating Radio Transients. The model accommodates exceptional pulsars, the millisecond pulsars (in principle), and the 8.5 s period PSR J2144-3933. These are considered separately and their emission mechanism discussed in some detail.

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PALFA Single-pulse Pipeline: New Pulsars, Rotating Radio Transients, and a Candidate Fast Radio Burst

The Astrophysical Journal ◽

10.3847/1538-4357/aaee65 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 869 (2) ◽

pp. 181 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

C. Patel ◽

D. Agarwal ◽

M. Bhardwaj ◽

M. M. Boyce ◽

A. Brazier ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Radio Burst ◽

Single Pulse ◽

Fast Radio Burst ◽

Radio Transients ◽

Rotating Radio Transients

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The hunt for new pulsars with the Green Bank Telescope

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s1743921312023113 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 8 (S291) ◽

pp. 41-46

Author(s):

Ryan S. Lynch

Keyword(s):

Globular Clusters ◽

Binary Systems ◽

Radio Pulsars ◽

Large Area ◽

Pulsar Timing ◽

Drift Scan ◽

Radio Transients ◽

Pulsar Searches ◽

Green Bank Telescope ◽

Rotating Radio Transients

AbstractThe Green Bank Telescope (GBT) is the largest fully steerable radio telescope in the world and is one of our greatest tools for discovering and studying radio pulsars. Over the last decade, the GBT has successfully found over 100 new pulsars through large-area surveys. Here I discuss the two most recent—the GBT 350 MHz Drift-scan survey and the Green Bank North Celestial Cap survey. The primary science goal of both surveys is to find interesting individual pulsars, including young pulsars, rotating radio transients, exotic binary systems, and especially bright millisecond pulsars (MSPs) suitable for inclusion in Pulsar Timing Arrays, which are trying to directly detect gravitational waves. These two surveys have combined to discover 85 pulsars to date, among which are 14 MSPs and many unique and fascinating systems. I present highlights from these surveys and discuss future plans. I also discuss recent results from targeted GBT pulsar searches of globular clusters and Fermi sources.

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