A VOEvent based automatic trigger system for the Murchison Widefield Array
The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is an electronically steered low frequency ($<300$\,MHz) radio interferometer, with a `slew' time less than 8seconds. Low frequency ($\sim 100$\,MHz) radio telescopes are ideally suited for rapid-response follow-up of transients due to their large field...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pasa.2019.40 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/84728 |
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| author | Hancock, Paul Anderson, Gemma Williams, A. Sokolowski, Marcin Tremblay, S.E. Rowlinson, A. Crosse, B. Meyers, B.W. Lynch, Christene Zic, A. Beardsley, A.P. Emrich, David Franzen, T.M.O. Horsley, L. Johnston-Hollitt, M. Kaplan, D.L. Kenney, D. Morales, M.F. Pallot, D. Steele, K. Tingay, Steven Trott, Cathryn Walker, Mia Wayth, Randall Wu, C. |
| author_facet | Hancock, Paul Anderson, Gemma Williams, A. Sokolowski, Marcin Tremblay, S.E. Rowlinson, A. Crosse, B. Meyers, B.W. Lynch, Christene Zic, A. Beardsley, A.P. Emrich, David Franzen, T.M.O. Horsley, L. Johnston-Hollitt, M. Kaplan, D.L. Kenney, D. Morales, M.F. Pallot, D. Steele, K. Tingay, Steven Trott, Cathryn Walker, Mia Wayth, Randall Wu, C. |
| author_sort | Hancock, Paul |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is an electronically steered low
frequency ($<300$\,MHz) radio interferometer, with a `slew' time less than
8seconds. Low frequency ($\sim 100$\,MHz) radio telescopes are ideally suited
for rapid-response follow-up of transients due to their large field of view,
the inverted spectrum of coherent emission, and the fact that the dispersion
delay between a 1GHz and 100MHz pulse is on the order of $1-10$\,min for
dispersion measures of $100-2000$\,pc/cm$^3$. The MWA has previously been used
to provide fast follow up for transient events including gamma-ray bursts, fast
radio bursts, and gravitational waves, using systems that respond to gamma-ray
coordinates network (GCN) packet-based notifications. We describe a system for
automatically triggering MWA observations of such events, based on VOEvent
triggers, which is more flexible, capable, and accurate than previous systems.
The system can respond to external multi-messenger triggers, which makes it
well-suited to searching for prompt coherent radio emission from gamma-ray
bursts, the study of fast radio bursts and gravitational waves, single pulse
studies of pulsars, and rapid follow-up of high-energy superflares from flare
stars. The new triggering system has the capability to trigger observations in
both the regular correlator mode (limited to $\geq 0.5$\,s integrations) or
using the Voltage Capture System (VCS, $0.1$\,ms integration) of the MWA, and
represents a new mode of operation for the MWA. The upgraded standard
correlator triggering capability has been in use since MWA observing semester
2018B (July-Dec 2018), and the VCS and buffered mode triggers will become
available for observing in a future semester. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:23:12Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-84728 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:23:12Z |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-847282021-08-11T03:56:41Z A VOEvent based automatic trigger system for the Murchison Widefield Array Hancock, Paul Anderson, Gemma Williams, A. Sokolowski, Marcin Tremblay, S.E. Rowlinson, A. Crosse, B. Meyers, B.W. Lynch, Christene Zic, A. Beardsley, A.P. Emrich, David Franzen, T.M.O. Horsley, L. Johnston-Hollitt, M. Kaplan, D.L. Kenney, D. Morales, M.F. Pallot, D. Steele, K. Tingay, Steven Trott, Cathryn Walker, Mia Wayth, Randall Wu, C. astro-ph.IM astro-ph.IM The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is an electronically steered low frequency ($<300$\,MHz) radio interferometer, with a `slew' time less than 8seconds. Low frequency ($\sim 100$\,MHz) radio telescopes are ideally suited for rapid-response follow-up of transients due to their large field of view, the inverted spectrum of coherent emission, and the fact that the dispersion delay between a 1GHz and 100MHz pulse is on the order of $1-10$\,min for dispersion measures of $100-2000$\,pc/cm$^3$. The MWA has previously been used to provide fast follow up for transient events including gamma-ray bursts, fast radio bursts, and gravitational waves, using systems that respond to gamma-ray coordinates network (GCN) packet-based notifications. We describe a system for automatically triggering MWA observations of such events, based on VOEvent triggers, which is more flexible, capable, and accurate than previous systems. The system can respond to external multi-messenger triggers, which makes it well-suited to searching for prompt coherent radio emission from gamma-ray bursts, the study of fast radio bursts and gravitational waves, single pulse studies of pulsars, and rapid follow-up of high-energy superflares from flare stars. The new triggering system has the capability to trigger observations in both the regular correlator mode (limited to $\geq 0.5$\,s integrations) or using the Voltage Capture System (VCS, $0.1$\,ms integration) of the MWA, and represents a new mode of operation for the MWA. The upgraded standard correlator triggering capability has been in use since MWA observing semester 2018B (July-Dec 2018), and the VCS and buffered mode triggers will become available for observing in a future semester. Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/84728 10.1017/pasa.2019.40 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pasa.2019.40 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/CE110001020 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE180100346 fulltext |
| spellingShingle | astro-ph.IM astro-ph.IM Hancock, Paul Anderson, Gemma Williams, A. Sokolowski, Marcin Tremblay, S.E. Rowlinson, A. Crosse, B. Meyers, B.W. Lynch, Christene Zic, A. Beardsley, A.P. Emrich, David Franzen, T.M.O. Horsley, L. Johnston-Hollitt, M. Kaplan, D.L. Kenney, D. Morales, M.F. Pallot, D. Steele, K. Tingay, Steven Trott, Cathryn Walker, Mia Wayth, Randall Wu, C. A VOEvent based automatic trigger system for the Murchison Widefield Array |
| title | A VOEvent based automatic trigger system for the Murchison Widefield
Array |
| title_full | A VOEvent based automatic trigger system for the Murchison Widefield
Array |
| title_fullStr | A VOEvent based automatic trigger system for the Murchison Widefield
Array |
| title_full_unstemmed | A VOEvent based automatic trigger system for the Murchison Widefield
Array |
| title_short | A VOEvent based automatic trigger system for the Murchison Widefield
Array |
| title_sort | voevent based automatic trigger system for the murchison widefield
array |
| topic | astro-ph.IM astro-ph.IM |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pasa.2019.40 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pasa.2019.40 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pasa.2019.40 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/84728 |