2020/03/24 by Nicola T. Locatelli, Nicola Locatelli, Gianni Bernardi +16
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Fast radio burst #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Neutron star #Physics #Pulsar #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology #Radio astronomy #Radio spectrum #Radio telescope #Remote sensing #Sky #Telescope #Upgrade #astro-ph.IM
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnras/staa813
8 pages, 9 figures, accepted by MNRAS
openalex created_date 2020/03/23 · openalex publication_date 2020/03/24 · arxiv created 2020/03/27 · arxiv updated 2020/04/08 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
ABSTRACT Fast radio bursts (FRBs) remain one of the most enigmatic astrophysical sources. Observations have significantly progressed over the last few years, due to the capabilities of new radio telescopes and the refurbishment of existing ones. Here, we describe the upgrade of the Northern Cross radio telescope, operating in the 400–416 MHz frequency band, with the ultimate goal of turning the array into a dedicated instrument to survey the sky for FRBs. We present test observations of the pulsar B0329+54 to characterize the system performance and forecast detectability. Observations with the system currently in place are still limited by modest sky coverage (∼9.4 deg2) and biased by smearing of high dispersion measure events within each frequency channels. In its final, upgraded configuration, however, the telescope will be able to carry out unbiased FRB surveys over a ∼350 deg2 instantaneous field of view up to z ∼ 5, with a (nearly constant) ∼ 760 (τ /\rm ms)-0.5 mJy rms sensitivity.