Search for fast radio transients using Arecibo drift-scan observations at 1.4 GHz

TL;DR

This study used Arecibo drift-scan observations at 1.4 GHz to search for fast radio transients, employing machine learning to analyze 160 hours of data, but found no new astrophysical signals, setting upper limits on FRB rates.

Contribution

First application of Arecibo drift-scan observations for fast radio transient search with machine learning analysis and setting new upper limits on FRB occurrence rates.

Findings

No new astrophysical transients detected.

Detected pulses from known pulsars, consistent with expectations.

Established upper limit for FRB rate at 1.4 GHz.

Abstract

We conducted a drift-scan observation campaign using the 305-m Arecibo telescope in January and March 2020 when the observatory was temporarily closed during the intense earthquakes and the initial outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, respectively. The primary objective of the survey was to search for fast radio transients, including Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) and Rotating Radio Transients (RRATs). We used the 7-beam ALFA receiver to observe different sections of the sky within the declination region $\sim$(10$-$20) deg on 23 nights and collected 160 hours of data in total. We searched our data for single-pulse transients, covering up to a maximum dispersion measure of 11 000 pc cm$^{-3}$ at which the dispersion delay across the entire bandwidth is equal to the 13 s transit length of our observations. The analysis produced more than 18 million candidates. Machine learning techniques sorted the radio frequency interference and possibly astrophysical candidates, allowing us to visually inspect and confirm the candidate transients. We found no evidence for new astrophysical transients in our data. We also searched for emission from repeated transient signals, but found no evidence for such sources. We detected single pulses from two known pulsars in our observations and their measured flux densities are consistent with the expected values. Based on our observations and sensitivity, we estimated the upper limit for the FRB rate to be $<$2.8$\times10^5$ sky$^{-1}$ day$^{-1}$ above a fluence of 0.16 Jy ms at 1.4 GHz, which is consistent with the rates from other telescopes and surveys.