20th of January 2015 |
---|
A real-time fast radio burst: polarization detection and multiwavelength follow-up |
by Emily Petroff (Swinburne University) |
Petroff et al. (2015) present the discovery
of a new fast radio burst (FRB) in real time using the Parkes Radio Telescope.
For the first time, the real-time detection system at the telescope also
captured the polarisation of the burst, a previously unknown quantity. The
burst, designated FRB 140514, was found to be 20% circularly polarised with
no detection of linear polarisation, possibly due to depolarisation by a
strong line-of-sight magnetic field. After detection at Parkes, telescopes
around the world and in space were triggered to follow-up the source with no
detected observations in the hours and days after the burst, constraining
supernova and long gamma ray burst progenitor models. The paper is published
today in MNRAS.
- The schematic of the 64-m Parkes Telescope observing the FRB was made by
Swinburne Astronomy Productions. More information: RAS News * CSIRO Media Release * Phys.org * Astronomy Now * |