Mapping the Dynamic Radio Universe

受到射电天文学、信号处理技术的最新发展以及世界各地主要天文台的新能力的推动，我提出了一个以动态射电天空的天气观测为基础的研究计划。通过利用新的仪器，如加拿大氢强度测绘实验(CHME)，我的团队将能够研究以前观察者无法接触到的各种射电现象。CHINE望远镜最近的完成标志着加拿大射电天文学的一个里程碑：它将很快开始追踪有史以来在一次调查中探索的最大宇宙体积。作为一项绘制宇宙大尺度结构(LSS)的宇宙学实验，各种增强使CHINE成为一个前所未有的射电天文台，为时间尺度从微秒到几十年的14个数量级的科学目标提供灵敏度。CHINE没有使用镜子和透镜来拍摄天空的图像，而是使用了一个大规模的数字信号处理后端来以各种方式操纵和聚焦无线电光。通过在相关器中仔细复制和处理信号，几个共生调查能够与CHINE的主要LSS调查并行进行：*1)CHINE/脉冲星将提供对北半球每一颗已知脉冲星的几乎每天的观测和监测。*2)CHINE/FRB将在1000束上搜索FRB，平铺整个约200平方度的视野。*3)CHAME VLBI恢复了与安大略省阿尔冈昆射电天文台(ARO)的历史性甚长基线干涉测量(VLBI)链接。*4)对遥远的21厘米吸收系统的高光谱分辨率搜索即将开始，最终有可能直接探测宇宙加速。*CHAME提供了现有新功能数据集的主要示例，但这项研究远远超出了单个观测站，利用了全球新上线的天气射电观测站。翻新的ARO已经用类似的技术进行了升级，允许宽带VLBI、相干偏振和时域研究。即将在南非建造的由1024个碟子组成的氢强度和实时分析实验(HIRAX)望远镜采用了CHINE技术，进一步扩大了灵敏度。我们寻求探索宇宙的这些新窗口，解决射电天文学中的主要问题。*我的团队正在领导这类新的数字射电天文台的发展，以CHINE为例。我们将继续推进无线电仪器，提高对全球设施的观测能力。这些新的能力，再加上开发这些能力所积累的专业知识，将使我们能够最大限度地提高科学产量，以一种前所未有的方式探索动态的无线电天空。

Motivated by recent developments in radio astronomy, signal processing technologies, and novel capabilities at major observatories worldwide, I propose a program of study to based around synoptic observations of the dynamic radio sky. By leveraging new instruments such as the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME), my group will be able to study a wide variety of radio phenomena previously inaccessible to observers.******The recent completion of the CHIME telescope marks a milestone for Canada's resurgent radio astronomical community: it will soon begin tracing out the largest volume of the cosmos ever explored in a single survey. Conceived as a cosmological experiment to map the Large Scale Structure (LSS) of the Universe, a variety of enhancements have made CHIME an unprecedented radio observatory, providing sensitivity on science targets with timescales ranging over 14 orders of magnitude, from microseconds to decades. Rather than using mirrors and lenses to image the sky, CHIME uses a massive digital signal processing backend to manipulate and focus the radio light in a variety of ways. Through careful replication and manipulation of the signals in the correlator, several commensal surveys are able to proceed in parallel with CHIME's primary LSS survey:***1) CHIME/pulsar will provide near-daily observation and monitoring of every known pulsar in the northern hemisphere.***2) CHIME/FRB will search for FRBs over a thousand beams, tiling the entire ~200-sq-deg field of view.***3) CHIME VLBI has restored the historic Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) link to the Algonquin Radio Observatory (ARO) in Ontario.***4) A high-spectral-resolution search for distant 21cm absorbing systems will begin shortly, with an ultimate potential to directly detect cosmic acceleration.******CHIME provides a prime example of the novel capabilities data sets now available, but this research extends well beyond a single observatory, leveraging new synoptic radio observatories now coming online around the globe. The refurbished ARO has been upgraded with similar technologies, allowing broadband VLBI, coherent polarimetry and time domain studies. The forthcoming 1024-dish Hydrogen Intensity and Realtime Analysis eXperiment (HIRAX) telescope in South Africa builds from CHIME technologies, expanding the sensitivity even further. We seek to explore these new windows on the Universe, addressing major questions across radio astronomy.******My group is leading developments within this new class of digital radio observatories exemplified by CHIME. We will continue to advance radio instrumentation, enhancing observational capabilities on facilities around the globe. Those new capabilities, coupled with the expertise built in developing them, will allow us to maximize scientific yield, exploring the dynamic radio sky in a way never before possible.