From Arecibo to CRAFTS: Bridging the Centuries
speaker: Di Li
Abstract:
Inspired by the Arecibo telescope, a technical and scientific wonder of the 20th century, the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) was originally proposed as part of a SKA concept. Since its operation commenced in 2020, FAST data have resulted in more than 120 peer-reviewed papers, including five on the Nature magazine and one on Nature Astronomy. Such productivity evinces the unparalleled sensitivity of FAST as well as the originality of a series of experimental techniques such as the high-cadence CAL, which enables the Commensal Radio Astronomy FasT Survey (CRAFTS). CRAFTS realizes the world’s first commensal survey of pulsars, HI imaging, HI galaxies, and fast radio bursts (FRBs). Through CRAFTS, we have so far discovered more than 160 pulsars, including one double-neutron-star system (DNS), and 6 new high DM (>1000 pc cm-3) fast radio bursts (FRBs), including one new repeater. The HI images and galaxies from CRAFTS are close to publication quality. I will introduce a few highlights from CRAFTS as well as PI programs, including the first successful HI narrow self-absorption (HINSA) Zeeman detection, which was featured on the cover of Nature, the first detection of the characteristic energy for a FRB source, a unified model describing the frequency evolution of active repeating FRBs, etc. A plan to build an array of FAST-like antennae is being formulated to achieve the point-source sensitivity rivaling that of the SKA. Along with a slew of major survey programs, CRAFTS and FASTA poise to extend the legacy of Arecibo.