Radio telescope computer software for detecting exotic astronomical sources that change with time

用于探测随时间变化的奇异天文源的射电望远镜计算机软件

• 批准号: 1615884
• 负责人: Natalia Schmid
• 金额: $ 6.95万
• 依托单位: West Virginia University Research Corporation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-09-01 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1615884&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Radio; telescope; computer; software; detecting

"Fast Radio Bursts" (FRBs) are linked to exotic astronomical objects in distant galaxies that produce a sudden and very dramatic burst of radio waves. The burst lasts a fraction of a second. Yet modern radio telescopes like the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia can detect these remarkable events - if they are equipped with sensitive equipment and sophisticated computer programs to analyze the data. A collaboration of scientists and students (both graduate and undergraduate) from the University of West Virginia and Virginia Tech plan to develop these programs for the GBT. Astronomers do not yet know what produces FRBs. They could be the result of colliding stars, or perhaps black holes swallowing neighboring stars. Either way, telescopes like the GBT should lead astronomers much closer to an answer.The detection of FRBs, believed to be extra-galactic in origin, and other potentially exotic radio transits, has in recent years been enabled by a revolution in radio instrumentation and computing power. The latter has lead to the development of sophisticated signal processing algorithms. The principal investigator, working with her graduate and undergraduate students and a collaborator at Virginia Tech., aims to develop such algorithms with a view to deploying them on the GBT and detecting radio transients in real time. The techniques will be prototyped on radio receivers already in place and in operation at the GBT; the software will run in parallel with existing data processing systems. The algorithms will enable sensitive, wide-field surveys of pulsars and other radio transients, in additions to the FRBs mentioned above. The algorithms and source code will be made freely available to the astronomical community once commissioned on the GBT. The PI also aims to develop a "Statistical Signal Processing for Sensor Arrays" undergraduate course to help make the technology more accessible to a wider audience and to educate the next generation of scientists and engineers.

“快速无线电爆发”（FRB）与遥远星系中的奇异天体有关，这些天体会突然产生非常剧烈的无线电波爆发。爆发持续了不到一秒。然而，像西弗吉尼亚州的格林班克望远镜（GBT）这样的现代射电望远镜如果配备敏感设备和复杂的计算机程序来分析数据，就可以探测到这些非凡的事件。西弗吉尼亚大学和弗吉尼亚理工大学的科学家和学生（研究生和本科生）合作计划为 GBT 开发这些项目。天文学家还不知道是什么产生了快速射电暴。它们可能是恒星碰撞的结果，也可能是黑洞吞噬邻近恒星的结果。不管怎样，像GBT这样的望远镜应该会让天文学家更接近答案。近年来，无线电仪器和技术的革命使得快速射电暴的探测得以实现，据信这些快速射电暴起源于银河系外，以及其他潜在的奇异射电凌日。计算能力。后者导致了复杂信号处理算法的发展。首席研究员与她的研究生和本科生以及弗吉尼亚理工大学的一位合作者合作，旨在开发此类算法，以期将其部署在 GBT 上并实时检测无线电瞬变。这些技术将在 GBT 已安装并运行的无线电接收器上进行原型设计；该软件将与现有的数据处理系统并行运行。除了上述的快速射电暴之外，这些算法还将能够对脉冲星和其他无线电瞬变进行灵敏的大视场调查。一旦在 GBT 上投入使用，算法和源代码将免费提供给天文学界。该 PI 还旨在开发“传感器阵列的统计信号处理”本科课程，以帮助更广泛的受众更容易地使用该技术，并教育下一代科学家和工程师。