Observations of transients and pulsars with LOFAR international stations

TL;DR

LOFAR is a flexible, digital radio telescope operating at 10-240 MHz, enabling detailed study of pulsars and transients through real-time detection and monitoring using advanced software and GPU technology.

Contribution

This paper introduces LOFAR's innovative design emphasizing digital hardware and software, and presents ARTEMIS, a real-time transient detection system utilizing GPU technology.

Findings

Successful real-time detection of millisecond radio transients

Enhanced capabilities for studying pulsar emission and interstellar medium effects

Implementation of a flexible, wide-field transient monitoring system

Abstract

The LOw FRequency ARray - LOFAR is a new radio telescope that is moving the science of radio pulsars and transients into a new phase. Its design places emphasis on digital hardware and flexible software instead of mechanical solutions. LOFAR observes at radio frequencies between 10 and 240 MHz where radio pulsars and many transients are expected to be brightest. Radio frequency signals emitted from these objects allow us to study the intrinsic pulsar emission and phenomena such as propagation effects through the interstellar medium. The design of LOFAR allows independent use of its stations to conduct observations of known bright objects, or wide field monitoring of transient events. One such combined software/hardware solution is called the Advanced Radio Transient Event Monitor and Identification System (ARTEMIS). It is a backend for both targeted observations and real-time searches for millisecond radio transients which uses Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) technology to remove interstellar dispersion and detect millisecond radio bursts from astronomical sources in real-time using a single LOFAR station.