Related papers: Spying on the quickly variable optical sky with th…
The realization of low-cost instruments with high technical performance is a goal which deserves some efforts in an epoch of fast technological developments: indeed such instruments can be easily reproduced and therefore allow to open new…
The emission of continuous gravitational waves (CWs) possibly explains why pulsars spinning with a period shorter than a millisecond have not been observed so far. Neutron stars accreting mass at the highest rates are the most promising…
We present program objectives and specifications for the first generation Ultra-Fast Astronomy (UFA) observatory which will explore a new astrophysical phase space by characterizing the variability of the optical (320 nm - 650 nm) sky in…
Two generations of a novel detector for high-resolution transmission imaging and spectrometry of fast-neutrons are presented. These devices are based on a hydrogenous fiber scintillator screen and single- or multiple-gated intensified…
The large surveys and sensitive instruments of modern astronomy are turning ever more examples of variable objects, many of which are extending the parameter space to testing theories of stellar evolution and accretion. Future projects such…
Low frequency radio waves, while challenging to observe, are a rich source of information about pulsars. The LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) is a new radio interferometer operating in the lowest 4 octaves of the ionospheric "radio window":…
Detecting and studying pulsars above a few GHz in the radio band is challenging due to the typical faintness of pulsar radio emission, their steep spectra, and the lack of observatories with sufficient sensitivity operating at high…
Radio astronomy has benefited greatly from advances in technology and will continue to do so in the future. In fact, we are experiencing a revolution in the way radio astronomy is conducted as our instruments allow us now to directly…
In our Ultra-Fast Astronomy (UFA) program, we aim to improve measurements of variability of astronomical targets on millisecond and shorter time scales. In this work, we present initial on-sky measurements of the performance of silicon…
Recent detections of optical pulsations from both a transitional and an accreting millisecond pulsar have revealed unexpectedly bright signals, suggesting that the presence of an accretion disk enhances the efficiency of optical emission,…
Modern astrophysics is undergoing a revolution. As detector technology has advanced, and astronomers have been able to study the sky with finer temporal detail, a rich diversity of sources which vary on timescales from years down to a few…
The on-going PALFA survey is searching the Galactic plane (|b| < 5 deg., 32 < l < 77 deg. and 168 < l < 214 deg.) for radio pulsars at 1.4 GHz using ALFA, the 7-beam receiver installed at the Arecibo Observatory. By the end of August 2012,…
Being fast rotating objects, isolated neutron stars (INSs) are obvious targets for high-time resolution observations. With the number of optical/UV/IR INS detections now increased to 24, timing observations become more and more important in…
OPTIMA is a small, versatile high-speed photometer which is primarily intended for time resolved observations of young high energy pulsars at optical wavelengths. The detector system consists of eight fiber fed photon counters based on…
Technological advances in instrumentation have led to an exponential increase in exoplanet detection and scrutiny of stellar features such as spots and faculae. While the spots and faculae enable us to understand the stellar dynamics,…
Being fast rotating objects, Isolated Neutron Stars (INSs) are natural targets for high-time resolution observations across the whole electromagnetic spectrum. With the number of objects detected at optical (plus ultraviolet and infrared)…
Conventional techniques that measure rapid time variations are inefficient or inadequate to discover and observe rapidly pulsating astronomical sources. It is therefore conceivable that there exist some classes of objects pulsating with…
A background of nanohertz gravitational waves from supermassive black hole binaries could soon be detected by pulsar timing arrays, which measure the times-of-arrival of radio pulses from millisecond pulsars with very high precision. The…
In ultra-fast astronomical observations featuring fast transients on sub-$\mu$s time scales, the conventional Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) threshold, often fixed at $5\sigma$, becomes inadequate as observational window timescales shorten,…
Ultra-long-period (ULP) pulsars, a newly identified class of celestial transients, offer unique insights into astrophysics, though very few have been detected to date. In radio astronomy, most time-domain detection methods cannot find these…