The majority of fast radio bursts (FRBs) are poorly localised, hindering their potential scientific yield as galactic, intergalactic, and cosmological probes. LOFT-e, a digital backend for the U.K.'s e-MERLIN seven-telescope interferometer will provide commensal search and real-time detection of FRBs, taking full advantage of its field of view (FoV), sensitivity, and observation time. Upon burst detection, LOFT-e will store raw data offline, enabling the sub-arcsecond localisation provided by e-MERLIN and expanding the pool of localised FRBs. The high-time resolution backend will additionally introduce pulsar observing capabilities to e-MERLIN.
@article{arxiv.1804.01904,
title = {LOFT-e: Localisation Of Fast Transients with e-MERLIN},
author = {C. R. H. Walker and R. P. Breton and P. A. Harrison and A. Holloway and M. J. Keith and M. Kramer and M. Malenta and M. B. Mickaliger and J. Roy and T. W. Scragg and B. W. Stappers},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1804.01904},
year = {2018}
}
Comments
2 pages, no figures, prepared for Proceedings of IAU Symposium 337: Pulsar Astrophysics - The Next 50 Years at Jodrell Bank Observatory, UK (September 4 - 8 2017)