Collaborative Research: Booming or Beaming? Sorting out the Dynamic Radio Universe

合作研究：蓬勃发展还是喜气洋洋？

• 批准号: 1009421
• 负责人: Carl Heiles
• 金额: $ 28.3万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-10-01 至 2014-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1009421&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Booming; Beaming; Sorting

AST-1008213/1008353/1009421Chatterjee/Kaplan/BowerStudies of the time-variable sky at various wavelengths have revealed a vast range of unexpected phenomena, some of which have had enormous scientific impact, such as radio pulsars and gamma-ray bursters. At radio wavelengths, large-scale and sensitive examinations have been lacking, and large regions of discovery space remain unexplored. This project will detect and characterize transient and variable sources in the archival record of the Very Large Array (VLA), a large existing resource spanning 30 years, obtained with the most sensitive interferometric telescope in operation today. The algorithms, software pipelines, and expertise developed in the process will be applied to new observations with the Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA), and they will provide an algorithmic portal to the next generation of wide-field, high sensitivity surveys with new telescopes. The university collaboration will work with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory to (i) develop and deploy automated software pipelines on local copies of the VLA archive, (ii) construct algorithms to detect and classify transient and variable radio sources in the archive, (iii) conduct multi-wavelength follow-up observations of sources of interest, and (iv) develop a statistical description and a deeper understanding of the physical processes underlying the radio transient sky. This study will find many new examples of known classes of transient sources, allowing for quantitative analysis, and is likely to discover as-yet-unknown source classes, thus building to a fuller characterization and deeper physical understanding of the dynamic radio sky. The target population includes at least brown dwarfs, low mass stars, nearby extra-solar Jovian planets, neutron stars, X-ray binaries, micro-quasars, radio supernovae and orphan radio afterglows of hidden gamma-ray bursts.The next generation of radio telescopes is now under construction or development, promising a quantum leap in sky coverage, sensitivity, and data rates. By developing, testing, and deploying algorithms and software pipelines on archival data, this research is an essential step toward handling those new large surveys, especially since it will test the operation of software pipelines in real-time radio astronomy applications. It will also train graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in this burgeoning field, and involve undergraduate students in hands-on research. Outreach activities with high school students and the general public will show how the 'unchanging' heavens are in fact dynamic, full of upheaval, violence, and mystery.

在不同波长的时变天空的AST-1008213/1008353/1009421Chatterjee/Kaplan/BowerStudies揭示了一系列意想不到的现象，其中一些已经产生了巨大的科学影响，如射电脉冲星和伽马射线爆发。在射电波段，缺乏大规模和灵敏的检查，大片发现空间仍未被探索。该项目将探测和描述甚大阵列(VLA)档案记录中的瞬变源和变量源，VLA是用当今运行中最灵敏的干涉望远镜获得的一种跨越30年的大型现有资源。在这一过程中开发的算法、软件流水线和专业知识将应用于扩展的甚大阵列(EVLA)的新观测，它们将提供一个算法门户，用于使用新的望远镜进行下一代宽视场、高灵敏度的调查。该大学将与国家射电天文台合作，(I)在VLA档案的本地副本上开发和部署自动化软件管道，(Ii)构建算法来探测和分类档案中的瞬变和可变射电源，(Iii)对感兴趣的射电源进行多波长跟踪观测，以及(Iv)制定统计说明和更深入地了解无线电瞬变天空背后的物理过程。这项研究将发现许多已知瞬变源类别的新例子，以便进行定量分析，并可能发现迄今未知的来源类别，从而建立对动态射电天空的更全面的描述和更深入的物理理解。目标群体至少包括棕矮星、低质量恒星、附近的太阳系外木星、中子星、X射线双星、微型类星体、射电超新星和隐藏伽马射线爆发的孤儿射电余辉。下一代射电望远镜目前正在建设或开发中，有望在天空覆盖、灵敏度和数据速率方面实现巨大飞跃。通过开发、测试和部署档案数据上的算法和软件流水线，这项研究是朝着处理这些新的大型调查迈出的重要一步，特别是因为它将测试软件流水线在实时射电天文应用中的操作。它还将培训这一新兴领域的研究生和博士后研究人员，并让本科生参与实践研究。针对高中生和普通公众的外展活动将向人们展示，“一成不变”的天空实际上是如何充满活力的，充满了动荡、暴力和神秘。