arXiv subjects

A. Jaini

Publications and source records attributed to A. Jaini.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A PINK update: Improvements to the CELEBI fast radio burst data reduction and analysis pipeline

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) which are well localised ($<$1") to their host galaxy are tools for studying cosmology and the intergalactic medium. Furthermore, high-time resolution datasets of their polarisation properties can enable testing of the numerous models on their potential progenitors. To that end, the CELEBI (CRAFT Effortless Localisation and Enhanced Burst Inspection) pipeline was conceived to enable data reduction from raw antenna voltages to detect fast radio transient events, localise them to sub-arcsecond precision, and produce polarimetric data at time resolutions as fine as 3 ns. Here we present a slew of updates to the CELEBI pipeline. Improvements to the astrometry correction for FRB localisations have aided our ability to determine what part of a galaxy more nearby FRBs have occurred in, which can have its own implication on the progenitor. We also have implemented time and frequency gating on detected fast transients to enable a boost to signal-to-noise, particularly useful for high dispersion measure or faint fast radio transients. We give examples of our improvements to the localisation, including for the currently 'hostless' FRB 20251019A. The polarisation calibration process has been overhauled, resulting in much more accurate measurements of derived polarisation fraction and rotation measures. Furthermore, we now have incorporated tools for structure-maximisation of the dispersion measure of fast radio transients, a software container which enables the installation of CELEBI on other machines, and improved the pipeline efficiency. Together these updates (named 'Polarisation and astrometry Improvements for New Knowledge', or PINK) greatly improve our ability to keep up with the expected detection rate from the CRAFT COherent (CRACO) upgrade to the real-time fast transient detection system of the Australian SKA Pathfinder.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2025

A nanosecond-duration radio pulse originating from the defunct Relay 2 satellite

We report the detection of a burst of emission over a 695.5 MHz-1031.5 MHz bandwidth by the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder, ASKAP. The burst was localised through analysis of near-field time delays to the long-decommissioned Relay 2 satellite, and exhibited a dispersion measure of $2.26 \cdot 10^{-5}$ pc cm$^{-3}$ -- 69.7 TECU, consistent with expectations for a single pass through the ionosphere. After coherent dedispersion, the burst was determined to be less than 30 ns in width, with an average flux density of at least 300 kJy. We consider an electrostatic discharge (ESD) or plasma discharge following a micrometeoroid impact to be plausible explanations for the burst. ESDs have previously been observed with the Arecibo radio telescope, but on 1000 times longer timescales. Our observation opens new possibilities for the remote sensing of ESD, which poses a serious threat to spacecraft, and reveals a new source of false events for observations of astrophysical transients.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2025

The emission of interpulses by a 6.45-hour period coherent radio transient

Long-period radio transients are a novel class of astronomical objects characterised by prolonged periods ranging from 18 minutes to 54 minutes. They exhibit highly polarised, coherent, beamed radio emission lasting only 10--100 seconds. The intrinsic nature of these objects is subject to speculation, with highly magnetised white dwarfs and neutron stars being the prevailing candidates. Here we present ASKAP J183950.5-075635.0 (hereafter, ASKAP J1839-0756), boasting the longest known period of this class at 6.45 hours. It exhibits emission characteristics of an ordered dipolar magnetic field, with pulsar-like bright main pulses and weaker interpulses offset by about half a period are indicative of an oblique or orthogonal rotator. This phenomenon, observed for the first time in a long-period radio transient, confirms that the radio emission originates from both magnetic poles and that the observed period corresponds to the rotation period. The spectroscopic and polarimetric properties of ASKAP J1839-0756 are consistent with a neutron star origin, and this object is a crucial piece of evidence in our understanding of long-period radio sources and their links to neutron stars.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

The CRAFT Coherent (CRACO) upgrade I: System Description and Results of the 110-ms Radio Transient Pilot Survey

We present the first results from a new backend on the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder, the Commensal Realtime ASKAP Fast Transient COherent (CRACO) upgrade. CRACO records millisecond time resolution visibility data, and searches for dispersed fast transient signals including fast radio bursts (FRB), pulsars, and ultra-long period objects (ULPO). With the visibility data, CRACO can localise the transient events to arcsecond-level precision after the detection. Here, we describe the CRACO system and report the result from a sky survey carried out by CRACO at 110ms resolution during its commissioning phase. During the survey, CRACO detected two FRBs (including one discovered solely with CRACO, FRB 20231027A), reported more precise localisations for four pulsars, discovered two new RRATs, and detected one known ULPO, GPM J1839-10, through its sub-pulse structure. We present a sensitivity calibration of CRACO, finding that it achieves the expected sensitivity of 11.6 Jy ms to bursts of 110 ms duration or less. CRACO is currently running at a 13.8 ms time resolution and aims at a 1.7 ms time resolution before the end of 2024. The planned CRACO has an expected sensitivity of 1.5 Jy ms to bursts of 1.7 ms duration or less, and can detect 10x more FRBs than the current CRAFT incoherent sum system (i.e., 0.5-2 localised FRBs per day), enabling us to better constrain he models for FRBs and use them as cosmological probes.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2024

The Commensal Real-time ASKAP Fast Transient incoherent-sum survey

With wide-field phased array feed technology,the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) is ideally suited to search for seemingly rare radio transient sources that are difficult to discover previous-generation narrow-field telescopes. The Commensal Real-time ASKAP Fast Transient (CRAFT) Survey Science Project has developed instrumentation to continuously search for fast radio transients (duration < 1 second) with ASKAP, with a particular focus on finding and localising Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs). Since 2018, the CRAFT survey has been searching for FRBs and other fast transients by incoherently adding the intensities received by individual ASKAP antennas, and then correcting for the impact of frequency dispersion on these short-duration signals in the resultant incoherent sum (ICS) in real-time. This low-latency detection enables the triggering of voltage buffers, which facilitates the localisation of the transient source and the study of spectro-polarimetric properties at high time resolution. Here we report the sample of 43 FRBs discovered in this CRAFT/ICS survey to date. This includes 22 FRBs that had not previously been reported: 16 FRBs localised by ASKAP to < 1 arcsec and 6 FRBs localised to ~ 10 arcmin. Of the new arcsecond-localised FRBs, we have identified and characterised host galaxies (and measured redshifts) for 11. The median of all 30 measured host redshifts from the survey to date is z=0.23. We summarise results from the searches, in particular those contributing to our understanding of the burst progenitors and emission mechanisms, and on the use of bursts as probes of intervening media. We conclude by foreshadowing future FRB surveys with ASKAP using a coherent detection system that is currently being commissioned. This will increase the burst detection rate by a factor of approximately ten and also the distance to which ASKAP can localise FRBs.

astro-ph.HE↗