GALFACTS data processing facility

射电望远镜上的多像素阵列接收器使它们能够用作宽视场相机，对大面积天空的无线电发射进行成像，并在短时间内观察宇宙的大区域。 这种能力为探索天文学中引人注目的问题开辟了新的可能性。 了解宇宙磁场的起源和演变是天体物理学的关键挑战之一，也是国际社会正在计划的下一代射电望远镜（如平方公里阵列）的主要科学驱动力。 宇宙中的磁场是由长波宇宙无线电波的偏振特性独特地揭示的，这既是因为发射是由高能带电粒子与磁场相互作用产生的，也是因为偏振受到穿过磁化空间的影响。 位于波多黎各的阿雷西博望远镜是世界上口径最大的射电望远镜。 它最近配备了一个阵列接收器，为世界天文学家提供了一个独特灵敏的宽视场成像无线电相机。银河ALFA连续统凌日巡天（Galactic ALFA Continuum Transit Survey，GALFACTS）是卡尔加里大学领导的一个国际项目，目的是利用这一新的能力，对来自我们银河系和数十万个外部星系的偏振辐射进行深入调查。 通过使用新设计和建造的先进数字电子系统，我们将能够同时探测各种波长的辐射，测量无线电波在我们自己的银河系和星系际空间的磁场中传播的影响。 我们希望这个项目对我们对宇宙磁场的认识产生变革性的影响。 我们将测量银河系中磁场的结构和强度，它与银河系中物质的关系及其在星系演化中的作用，迈出探索星系际空间磁性的第一步，并观察遥远星系中磁场随宇宙时间的演化。 该提案旨在完成GALFACTS处理设施，将原始数据转化为图像供科学分析。

Mutli-pixel array receivers on radio telescopes allows them to be used as wide-field cameras to image radio emission over large areas of sky and observe large regions of the universe in a short time.  This capability is opening up new possibilities for exploring compelling questions in astronomy.  Understanding the origin and evolution of cosmic magnetism is one of the key challenges of astrophysics and a main science drivers for next-generational radio telescopes being planned by the international community, such as the Square Kilometre Array.  Magnetic fields in the Universe are uniquely revealed by the polarization properties of long-wavelength cosmic radio waves, both because the emission is produced by interactions of energetic charged particles with magnetic fields and because the polarization is affected by travelling through magnetized space.  The Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico is the largest radio telescope aperture in the world.  It has recently been equipped with an array receiver, providing the world's astronomers with a uniquely sensitive wide-field imaging radio camera. The Galactic ALFA Continuum Transit Survey (GALFACTS) is an international project lead by the University of Calgary to use this new capability to carry out a deep survey of the polarized radiation from our Milky Way Galaxy and from hundreds of thousands of external galaxies.  By using a newly designed and constructed advance digital electronic system, we will be able to detect radiation simultaneously over a wide range of wavelengths, measuring the effects of the radio waves traveling through the magnetic fields in our own Galaxy and intergalactic space.  We expect this project to have a transformational impact on our knowledge of magnetic fields in the universe.  We will measure the structure and strength of the field in the Milky Way, its relationship to the matter in the Galaxy and its role in galaxy evolution, take our first steps in probing the magnetism of intergalactic space, and observe the evolution of magnetic fields with cosmic time in distant galaxies.  This proposal is for completion of the GALFACTS processing facility that turns the raw data into images for scientific analysis.