Prospects for the detection of fast radio bursts with the Murchison Widefield Array
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are short timescale («1 s) astrophysical radio signals, presumed to be a signature of cataclysmic events of extragalactic origin. The discovery of six high-redshift events at ~1400 MHz from the Parkes radio telescope suggests that FRBs may occur at a high rate across the sky...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Institute of Physics Publishing
2013
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/25316 |
| _version_ | 1848751674850541568 |
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| author | Trott, Cathryn Tingay, Steven Wayth, Randall |
| author_facet | Trott, Cathryn Tingay, Steven Wayth, Randall |
| author_sort | Trott, Cathryn |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are short timescale («1 s) astrophysical radio signals, presumed to be a signature of cataclysmic events of extragalactic origin. The discovery of six high-redshift events at ~1400 MHz from the Parkes radio telescope suggests that FRBs may occur at a high rate across the sky. The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) operates at low radio frequencies (80-300 MHz) and is expected to detect FRBs due to its large collecting area (~2500 m2) and wide field-of-view (FOV, ~ 1000 deg2 at v = 200 MHz). We compute the expected number of FRB detections for the MWA assuming a source population consistent with the reported detections. Our formalism properly accounts for the frequency-dependence of the antenna primary beam, the MWA system temperature, and unknown spectral index of the source population, for three modes of FRB detection: coherent; incoherent; and fast imaging. We find that the MWA's sensitivity and large FOV combine to provide the expectation of multiple detectable events per week in all modes, potentially making it an excellent high time resolution science instrument. Deviations of the expected number of detections from actual results will provide a strong constraint on the assumptions made for the underlying source population and intervening plasma distribution. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:56:29Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-25316 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:56:29Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | Institute of Physics Publishing |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-253162017-09-13T15:21:24Z Prospects for the detection of fast radio bursts with the Murchison Widefield Array Trott, Cathryn Tingay, Steven Wayth, Randall radio continuum: general methods: observational surveys methods: data analysis instrumentation: detectors Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are short timescale («1 s) astrophysical radio signals, presumed to be a signature of cataclysmic events of extragalactic origin. The discovery of six high-redshift events at ~1400 MHz from the Parkes radio telescope suggests that FRBs may occur at a high rate across the sky. The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) operates at low radio frequencies (80-300 MHz) and is expected to detect FRBs due to its large collecting area (~2500 m2) and wide field-of-view (FOV, ~ 1000 deg2 at v = 200 MHz). We compute the expected number of FRB detections for the MWA assuming a source population consistent with the reported detections. Our formalism properly accounts for the frequency-dependence of the antenna primary beam, the MWA system temperature, and unknown spectral index of the source population, for three modes of FRB detection: coherent; incoherent; and fast imaging. We find that the MWA's sensitivity and large FOV combine to provide the expectation of multiple detectable events per week in all modes, potentially making it an excellent high time resolution science instrument. Deviations of the expected number of detections from actual results will provide a strong constraint on the assumptions made for the underlying source population and intervening plasma distribution. 2013 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/25316 10.1088/2041-8205/776/1/L16 Institute of Physics Publishing fulltext |
| spellingShingle | radio continuum: general methods: observational surveys methods: data analysis instrumentation: detectors Trott, Cathryn Tingay, Steven Wayth, Randall Prospects for the detection of fast radio bursts with the Murchison Widefield Array |
| title | Prospects for the detection of fast radio bursts with the Murchison Widefield Array |
| title_full | Prospects for the detection of fast radio bursts with the Murchison Widefield Array |
| title_fullStr | Prospects for the detection of fast radio bursts with the Murchison Widefield Array |
| title_full_unstemmed | Prospects for the detection of fast radio bursts with the Murchison Widefield Array |
| title_short | Prospects for the detection of fast radio bursts with the Murchison Widefield Array |
| title_sort | prospects for the detection of fast radio bursts with the murchison widefield array |
| topic | radio continuum: general methods: observational surveys methods: data analysis instrumentation: detectors |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/25316 |