Daily Image
28-01-2021
Colloquium: The Deep Synoptic Array program
| Submitter: | Vikram Ravi |
| Description: | Large arrays of small antennas are beginning to realize their potential for radio surveys. We have been developing the Deep Synoptic Array (DSA) concept for cm-wavelength astronomy: a combination of inexpensive 5-m dishes and power/signal-distribution infrastructure, high-performance ambient temperature receivers (Tsys ~ 25 K), and powerful digital backends. A ten-element prototype array was used to discover and identify the host galaxy of a fast radio burst (FRB), at a redshift of 0.66. A 110-element array (DSA-110) is currently under construction, at Caltech's Owens Valley Radio Observatory, to deliver arcsecond-accuracy localizations of over a hundred FRBs per year. 25 antennas are currently operating, and the array is slated for completion in mid-2021. Finally, we are designing a 2000-element 0.7-2 GHz array - the DSA-2000 - to deliver a radio counterpart to the great surveys of the 2020s (e.g., Rubin Observatory, SPHEREx, SRG), and form a cornerstone of multimessenger astronomy. I will detail the science motivations for the overall program, report on progress with DSA-110, and describe the DSA-2000 concept. |
| Copyright: | CC-BY-NC-SA; Image credit: Chuck Carter / Caltech |
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