The LOFAR pilot surveys for pulsars and fast radio transients

Thijs Coenen; Joeri Van Leeuwen; Jason W.T. Hessels; Ben W. Stappers; Vladislav I. Kondratiev; A. Alexov; R. P. Breton; A. Bilous; S. Cooper; H. Falcke; R. A. Fallows; V. Gajjar; J. M. Grießmeier; T. E. Hassall; A. Karastergiou; E. F. Keane; M. Kramer; M. Kuniyoshi; A. Noutsos; S. Osłowski; M. Pilia; M. Serylak; C. Schrijvers; C. Sobey; S. Ter Veen; J. Verbiest; P. Weltevrede; S. Wijnholds; K. Zagkouris; A. S. Van Amesfoort; J. Anderson; A. Asgekar; I. M. Avruch; M. E. Bell; M. J. Bentum; G. Bernardi; P. Best; A. Bonafede; F. Breitling; J. Broderick; M. Brüggen; H. R. Butcher; B. Ciardi; A. Corstanje; A. Deller; S. Duscha; J. Eislöffel; R. Fender; C. Ferrari; W. Frieswijk; M. A. Garrett; F. De Gasperin; E. De Geus; A. W. Gunst; J. P. Hamaker; G. Heald; M. Hoeft; A. Van Der Horst; E. Juette; G. Kuper; C. Law; G. Mann; R. McFadden; D. McKay-Bukowski; J. P. McKean; H. Munk; E. Orru; H. Paas; M. Pandey-Pommier; A. G. Polatidis; W. Reich; A. Renting; H. Röttgering; A. Rowlinson; A. M.M. Scaife; D. Schwarz; J. Sluman; O. Smirnov; J. Swinbank; M. Tagger; Y. Tang; C. Tasse; S. Thoudam; C. Toribio; R. Vermeulen; C. Vocks; R. J. Van Weeren; O. Wucknitz; P. Zarka; A. Zensus

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201424495

The LOFAR pilot surveys for pulsars and fast radio transients

Thijs Coenen, Joeri Van Leeuwen, Jason W.T. Hessels, Ben W. Stappers, Vladislav I. Kondratiev, A. Alexov, R. P. Breton, A. Bilous, S. Cooper, H. Falcke, R. A. Fallows, V. Gajjar, J. M. Grießmeier, T. E. Hassall, A. Karastergiou, E. F. Keane, M. Kramer, M. Kuniyoshi, A. Noutsos, S. OsłowskiM. Pilia, M. Serylak, C. Schrijvers, C. Sobey, S. Ter Veen, J. Verbiest, P. Weltevrede, S. Wijnholds, K. Zagkouris, A. S. Van Amesfoort, J. Anderson, A. Asgekar, I. M. Avruch, M. E. Bell, M. J. Bentum, G. Bernardi, P. Best, A. Bonafede, F. Breitling, J. Broderick, M. Brüggen, H. R. Butcher, B. Ciardi, A. Corstanje, A. Deller, S. Duscha, J. Eislöffel, R. Fender, C. Ferrari, W. Frieswijk, M. A. Garrett, F. De Gasperin, E. De Geus, A. W. Gunst, J. P. Hamaker, G. Heald, M. Hoeft, A. Van Der Horst, E. Juette, G. Kuper, C. Law, G. Mann, R. McFadden, D. McKay-Bukowski, J. P. McKean, H. Munk, E. Orru, H. Paas, M. Pandey-Pommier, A. G. Polatidis, W. Reich, A. Renting, H. Röttgering, A. Rowlinson, A. M.M. Scaife, D. Schwarz, J. Sluman, O. Smirnov, J. Swinbank, M. Tagger, Y. Tang, C. Tasse, S. Thoudam, C. Toribio, R. Vermeulen, C. Vocks, R. J. Van Weeren, O. Wucknitz, P. Zarka, A. Zensus

Physics

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Abstract

We have conducted two pilot surveys for radio pulsars and fast transients with the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) around 140 MHz and here report on the first low-frequency fast-radio burst limit and the discovery of two new pulsars. The first survey, the LOFAR Pilot Pulsar Survey (LPPS), observed a large fraction of the northern sky, ~ 1.4 × 10⁴ deg², with 1 h dwell times. Each observation covered ~75 deg² using 7 independent fields formed by incoherently summing the high-band antenna fields. The second pilot survey, the LOFAR Tied-Array Survey (LOTAS), spanned ~600 deg², with roughly a 5-fold increase in sensitivity compared with LPPS. Using a coherent sum of the 6 LOFAR "Superterp" stations, we formed 19 tied-array beams, together covering 4 deg² per pointing. From LPPS we derive a limit on the occurrence, at 142 MHz, of dispersed radio bursts of < 150 day^-1 sky^-1, for bursts brighter than S> 107 Jy for the narrowest searched burst duration of 0.66 ms. In LPPS, we re-detected 65 previously known pulsars. LOTAS discovered two pulsars, the first with LOFAR or any digital aperture array. LOTAS also re-detected 27 previously known pulsars. These pilot studies show that LOFAR can efficiently carry out all-sky surveys for pulsars and fast transients, and they set the stage for further surveying efforts using LOFAR and the planned low-frequency component of the Square Kilometer Array.

Original language	British English
Article number	A60
Journal	Astronomy and Astrophysics
Volume	570
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201424495
State	Published - 1 Oct 2014

Keywords

Pulsars: general
Surveys
Telescopes

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10.1051/0004-6361/201424495

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Coenen, T., Van Leeuwen, J., Hessels, J. W. T., Stappers, B. W., Kondratiev, V. I., Alexov, A., Breton, R. P., Bilous, A., Cooper, S., Falcke, H., Fallows, R. A., Gajjar, V., Grießmeier, J. M., Hassall, T. E., Karastergiou, A., Keane, E. F., Kramer, M., Kuniyoshi, M., Noutsos, A., ... Zensus, A. (2014). The LOFAR pilot surveys for pulsars and fast radio transients. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 570, Article A60. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201424495

@article{6b6028011a1d45f08f75612c6db00df2,

title = "The LOFAR pilot surveys for pulsars and fast radio transients",

abstract = "We have conducted two pilot surveys for radio pulsars and fast transients with the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) around 140 MHz and here report on the first low-frequency fast-radio burst limit and the discovery of two new pulsars. The first survey, the LOFAR Pilot Pulsar Survey (LPPS), observed a large fraction of the northern sky, ~ 1.4 × 104 deg2, with 1 h dwell times. Each observation covered ~75 deg2 using 7 independent fields formed by incoherently summing the high-band antenna fields. The second pilot survey, the LOFAR Tied-Array Survey (LOTAS), spanned ~600 deg2, with roughly a 5-fold increase in sensitivity compared with LPPS. Using a coherent sum of the 6 LOFAR {"}Superterp{"} stations, we formed 19 tied-array beams, together covering 4 deg2 per pointing. From LPPS we derive a limit on the occurrence, at 142 MHz, of dispersed radio bursts of < 150 day-1 sky-1, for bursts brighter than S> 107 Jy for the narrowest searched burst duration of 0.66 ms. In LPPS, we re-detected 65 previously known pulsars. LOTAS discovered two pulsars, the first with LOFAR or any digital aperture array. LOTAS also re-detected 27 previously known pulsars. These pilot studies show that LOFAR can efficiently carry out all-sky surveys for pulsars and fast transients, and they set the stage for further surveying efforts using LOFAR and the planned low-frequency component of the Square Kilometer Array.",

keywords = "Pulsars: general, Surveys, Telescopes",

author = "Thijs Coenen and {Van Leeuwen}, Joeri and Hessels, {Jason W.T.} and Stappers, {Ben W.} and Kondratiev, {Vladislav I.} and A. Alexov and Breton, {R. P.} and A. Bilous and S. Cooper and H. Falcke and Fallows, {R. A.} and V. Gajjar and Grie{\ss}meier, {J. M.} and Hassall, {T. E.} and A. Karastergiou and Keane, {E. F.} and M. Kramer and M. Kuniyoshi and A. Noutsos and S. Os{\l}owski and M. Pilia and M. Serylak and C. Schrijvers and C. Sobey and {Ter Veen}, S. and J. Verbiest and P. Weltevrede and S. Wijnholds and K. Zagkouris and {Van Amesfoort}, {A. S.} and J. Anderson and A. Asgekar and Avruch, {I. M.} and Bell, {M. E.} and Bentum, {M. J.} and G. Bernardi and P. Best and A. Bonafede and F. Breitling and J. Broderick and M. Br{\"u}ggen and Butcher, {H. R.} and B. Ciardi and A. Corstanje and A. Deller and S. Duscha and J. Eisl{\"o}ffel and R. Fender and C. Ferrari and W. Frieswijk and Garrett, {M. A.} and {De Gasperin}, F. and {De Geus}, E. and Gunst, {A. W.} and Hamaker, {J. P.} and G. Heald and M. Hoeft and {Van Der Horst}, A. and E. Juette and G. Kuper and C. Law and G. Mann and R. McFadden and D. McKay-Bukowski and McKean, {J. P.} and H. Munk and E. Orru and H. Paas and M. Pandey-Pommier and Polatidis, {A. G.} and W. Reich and A. Renting and H. R{\"o}ttgering and A. Rowlinson and Scaife, {A. M.M.} and D. Schwarz and J. Sluman and O. Smirnov and J. Swinbank and M. Tagger and Y. Tang and C. Tasse and S. Thoudam and C. Toribio and R. Vermeulen and C. Vocks and {Van Weeren}, {R. J.} and O. Wucknitz and P. Zarka and A. Zensus",

note = "Funding Information: We thank J. Green and P. Abeyratne for help with LPPS processing. This work was supported by grants from the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA3-NW3-2.3.1) and by the European Commission (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-4-3-IRG #224838) to JVL; an NWO Veni Fellowship to JWTH; and Agence Nationale de la Recherche grant ANR-09-JCJC-0001-01 to CF. LOFAR is designed and constructed by ASTRON, and is operated by the International LOFAR Telescope (ILT) foundation. LOTAS “bandwidth-on-demand” was provided by SURFnet. LOTAS processing was carried out on the Dutch grid infrastructure supported by the BiGGrid project. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2014 ESO .",

year = "2014",

month = oct,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1051/0004-6361/201424495",

language = "British English",

volume = "570",

journal = "Astronomy and Astrophysics",

issn = "0004-6361",

publisher = "EDP Sciences",

}

Coenen, T, Van Leeuwen, J, Hessels, JWT, Stappers, BW, Kondratiev, VI, Alexov, A, Breton, RP, Bilous, A, Cooper, S, Falcke, H, Fallows, RA, Gajjar, V, Grießmeier, JM, Hassall, TE, Karastergiou, A, Keane, EF, Kramer, M, Kuniyoshi, M, Noutsos, A, Osłowski, S, Pilia, M, Serylak, M, Schrijvers, C, Sobey, C, Ter Veen, S, Verbiest, J, Weltevrede, P, Wijnholds, S, Zagkouris, K, Van Amesfoort, AS, Anderson, J, Asgekar, A, Avruch, IM, Bell, ME, Bentum, MJ, Bernardi, G, Best, P, Bonafede, A, Breitling, F, Broderick, J, Brüggen, M, Butcher, HR, Ciardi, B, Corstanje, A, Deller, A, Duscha, S, Eislöffel, J, Fender, R, Ferrari, C, Frieswijk, W, Garrett, MA, De Gasperin, F, De Geus, E, Gunst, AW, Hamaker, JP, Heald, G, Hoeft, M, Van Der Horst, A, Juette, E, Kuper, G, Law, C, Mann, G, McFadden, R, McKay-Bukowski, D, McKean, JP, Munk, H, Orru, E, Paas, H, Pandey-Pommier, M, Polatidis, AG, Reich, W, Renting, A, Röttgering, H, Rowlinson, A, Scaife, AMM, Schwarz, D, Sluman, J, Smirnov, O, Swinbank, J, Tagger, M, Tang, Y, Tasse, C, Thoudam, S, Toribio, C, Vermeulen, R, Vocks, C, Van Weeren, RJ, Wucknitz, O, Zarka, P & Zensus, A 2014, 'The LOFAR pilot surveys for pulsars and fast radio transients', Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 570, A60. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201424495

TY - JOUR

T1 - The LOFAR pilot surveys for pulsars and fast radio transients

AU - Coenen, Thijs

AU - Van Leeuwen, Joeri

AU - Hessels, Jason W.T.

AU - Stappers, Ben W.

AU - Kondratiev, Vladislav I.

AU - Alexov, A.

AU - Breton, R. P.

AU - Bilous, A.

AU - Cooper, S.

AU - Falcke, H.

AU - Fallows, R. A.

AU - Gajjar, V.

AU - Grießmeier, J. M.

AU - Hassall, T. E.

AU - Karastergiou, A.

AU - Keane, E. F.

AU - Kramer, M.

AU - Kuniyoshi, M.

AU - Noutsos, A.

AU - Osłowski, S.

AU - Pilia, M.

AU - Serylak, M.

AU - Schrijvers, C.

AU - Sobey, C.

AU - Ter Veen, S.

AU - Verbiest, J.

AU - Weltevrede, P.

AU - Wijnholds, S.

AU - Zagkouris, K.

AU - Van Amesfoort, A. S.

AU - Anderson, J.

AU - Asgekar, A.

AU - Avruch, I. M.

AU - Bell, M. E.

AU - Bentum, M. J.

AU - Bernardi, G.

AU - Best, P.

AU - Bonafede, A.

AU - Breitling, F.

AU - Broderick, J.

AU - Brüggen, M.

AU - Butcher, H. R.

AU - Ciardi, B.

AU - Corstanje, A.

AU - Deller, A.

AU - Duscha, S.

AU - Eislöffel, J.

AU - Fender, R.

AU - Ferrari, C.

AU - Frieswijk, W.

AU - Garrett, M. A.

AU - De Gasperin, F.

AU - De Geus, E.

AU - Gunst, A. W.

AU - Hamaker, J. P.

AU - Heald, G.

AU - Hoeft, M.

AU - Van Der Horst, A.

AU - Juette, E.

AU - Kuper, G.

AU - Law, C.

AU - Mann, G.

AU - McFadden, R.

AU - McKay-Bukowski, D.

AU - McKean, J. P.

AU - Munk, H.

AU - Orru, E.

AU - Paas, H.

AU - Pandey-Pommier, M.

AU - Polatidis, A. G.

AU - Reich, W.

AU - Renting, A.

AU - Röttgering, H.

AU - Rowlinson, A.

AU - Scaife, A. M.M.

AU - Schwarz, D.

AU - Sluman, J.

AU - Smirnov, O.

AU - Swinbank, J.

AU - Tagger, M.

AU - Tang, Y.

AU - Tasse, C.

AU - Thoudam, S.

AU - Toribio, C.

AU - Vermeulen, R.

AU - Vocks, C.

AU - Van Weeren, R. J.

AU - Wucknitz, O.

AU - Zarka, P.

AU - Zensus, A.

N1 - Funding Information: We thank J. Green and P. Abeyratne for help with LPPS processing. This work was supported by grants from the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA3-NW3-2.3.1) and by the European Commission (FP7-PEOPLE-2007-4-3-IRG #224838) to JVL; an NWO Veni Fellowship to JWTH; and Agence Nationale de la Recherche grant ANR-09-JCJC-0001-01 to CF. LOFAR is designed and constructed by ASTRON, and is operated by the International LOFAR Telescope (ILT) foundation. LOTAS “bandwidth-on-demand” was provided by SURFnet. LOTAS processing was carried out on the Dutch grid infrastructure supported by the BiGGrid project. Publisher Copyright: © 2014 ESO .

PY - 2014/10/1

Y1 - 2014/10/1

N2 - We have conducted two pilot surveys for radio pulsars and fast transients with the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) around 140 MHz and here report on the first low-frequency fast-radio burst limit and the discovery of two new pulsars. The first survey, the LOFAR Pilot Pulsar Survey (LPPS), observed a large fraction of the northern sky, ~ 1.4 × 104 deg2, with 1 h dwell times. Each observation covered ~75 deg2 using 7 independent fields formed by incoherently summing the high-band antenna fields. The second pilot survey, the LOFAR Tied-Array Survey (LOTAS), spanned ~600 deg2, with roughly a 5-fold increase in sensitivity compared with LPPS. Using a coherent sum of the 6 LOFAR "Superterp" stations, we formed 19 tied-array beams, together covering 4 deg2 per pointing. From LPPS we derive a limit on the occurrence, at 142 MHz, of dispersed radio bursts of < 150 day-1 sky-1, for bursts brighter than S> 107 Jy for the narrowest searched burst duration of 0.66 ms. In LPPS, we re-detected 65 previously known pulsars. LOTAS discovered two pulsars, the first with LOFAR or any digital aperture array. LOTAS also re-detected 27 previously known pulsars. These pilot studies show that LOFAR can efficiently carry out all-sky surveys for pulsars and fast transients, and they set the stage for further surveying efforts using LOFAR and the planned low-frequency component of the Square Kilometer Array.

AB - We have conducted two pilot surveys for radio pulsars and fast transients with the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) around 140 MHz and here report on the first low-frequency fast-radio burst limit and the discovery of two new pulsars. The first survey, the LOFAR Pilot Pulsar Survey (LPPS), observed a large fraction of the northern sky, ~ 1.4 × 104 deg2, with 1 h dwell times. Each observation covered ~75 deg2 using 7 independent fields formed by incoherently summing the high-band antenna fields. The second pilot survey, the LOFAR Tied-Array Survey (LOTAS), spanned ~600 deg2, with roughly a 5-fold increase in sensitivity compared with LPPS. Using a coherent sum of the 6 LOFAR "Superterp" stations, we formed 19 tied-array beams, together covering 4 deg2 per pointing. From LPPS we derive a limit on the occurrence, at 142 MHz, of dispersed radio bursts of < 150 day-1 sky-1, for bursts brighter than S> 107 Jy for the narrowest searched burst duration of 0.66 ms. In LPPS, we re-detected 65 previously known pulsars. LOTAS discovered two pulsars, the first with LOFAR or any digital aperture array. LOTAS also re-detected 27 previously known pulsars. These pilot studies show that LOFAR can efficiently carry out all-sky surveys for pulsars and fast transients, and they set the stage for further surveying efforts using LOFAR and the planned low-frequency component of the Square Kilometer Array.

KW - Pulsars: general

KW - Surveys

KW - Telescopes

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84907992298&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1051/0004-6361/201424495

DO - 10.1051/0004-6361/201424495

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84907992298

SN - 0004-6361

VL - 570

JO - Astronomy and Astrophysics

JF - Astronomy and Astrophysics

M1 - A60

ER -

The LOFAR pilot surveys for pulsars and fast radio transients

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