2015ApJ...807...16L -
Astrophys. J., 807, 16 (2015/July-1)
A millisecond interferometric search for fast radio bursts with the very large array.
LAW C.J., BOWER G.C., BURKE-SPOLAOR S., BUTLER B., LAWRENCE E., LAZIO T.J.W., MATTMANN C.A., RUPEN M., SIEMION A. and VANDERWIEL S.
Abstract (from CDS):
We report on the first millisecond timescale radio interferometric search for the new class of transient known as fast radio bursts (FRBs). We used the Very Large Array (VLA) for a 166 hr, millisecond imaging campaign to detect and precisely localize an FRB. We observed at 1.4 GHz and produced visibilities with 5 ms time resolution over 256 MHz of bandwidth. Dedispersed images were searched for transients with dispersion measures from 0 to 3000 pc/cm3. No transients were detected in observations of high Galactic latitude fields taken from 2013 September though 2014 October. Observations of a known pulsar show that images typically had a thermal-noise limited sensitivity of 120 mJy/beam (; Stokes I) in 5 ms and could detect and localize transients over a wide field of view. Our nondetection limits the FRB rate to less than/sky/day (95% confidence) above a fluence limit of 1.5 Jy ms. The VLA rate limit is consistent with past estimates when published flux limits are recalculated with a homogeneous definition that includes effects of primary beam attenuation, dispersion, pulse width, and sky brightness. This calculation revises the FRB rate downward by a factor of 2, giving the VLA observations a roughly 50% chance of detecting a typical FRB, assuming a pulse width of 3 ms. A 95% confidence constraint would require 600 hr of similar VLA observing. Our survey also limits the repetition rate of an FRB to 2 times less than any known repeating millisecond radio transient.
Abstract Copyright:
∼
Journal keyword(s):
instrumentation: interferometers - intergalactic medium - pulsars: general - radio continuum: general - surveys
Simbad objects:
8
Full paper
View the references in ADS
To bookmark this query, right click on this link: simbad:2015ApJ...807...16L and select 'bookmark this link' or equivalent in the popup menu