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）与遥远星系中的异国天文物体有关，产生了突然且非常戏剧性的无线电波。爆发持续了一秒钟。然而，现代射电望远镜（例如西弗吉尼亚州的绿色银行望远镜（GBT）（GBT））可以检测到这些非凡的事件 - 如果它们配备了敏感的设备和复杂的计算机程序来分析数据。西弗吉尼亚大学和弗吉尼亚科技大学的科学家和学生（包括研究生和本科生）的合作计划为GBT制定这些计划。天文学家还不知道是什么产生了FRB。它们可能是碰撞星星的结果，也许是黑洞吞咽了附近的恒星。无论哪种方式，像GBT这样的望远镜都应该使天文学家更接近答案。近年来，据信据信是类外的FRB的发现，近年来，通过无线电仪器和计算能力的革命实现了其他潜在的外来无线电运输。后者导致了复杂的信号处理算法的发展。这位主要研究人员与她的研究生和本科生以及弗吉尼亚理工大学的合作者合作，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。这些技术将在已经到位的无线电接收器上进行原型，并在GBT处运行；该软件将与现有数据处理系统并行运行。除上述FRB外，该算法还可以对脉冲星和其他无线电瞬变进行敏感的宽场调查。一旦在GBT上委托，将为天文学界免费提供算法和源代码。 PI还旨在开发“传感器阵列的统计信号处理”本科课程，以帮助使更广泛的受众访问该技术，并教育下一代的科学家和工程师。