The recent upgrade to MWAX necessitates verification that the system is capable of observing high time resolution phenomena, such as pulsars. To this end, we put in a successful proposal for an MWA observing campaign to being in the end of 2021 and into the beginning of 2022. The requested observations fall into two categories:
- commissioning observations, and
- the remaining SMART observations.
This page details the progress made in taking the observations and performing the tests to complete the commissioning phase. Progress with the SMART survey is detailed elsewhere.
Commissioning Observations
Goals & Target Pulsars
The stated goals of the commissioning observations are:
- To develop and test the tied-array beamformer for the new VCS data format
- Verification of frequency labelling
- Data recording and timing stability
- Polarimetric verification and leakage assessment
- Full coherent beam sensitivity and timing accuracy
- The voltage dump and trigger mode (in response to external triggers)
- Correlation and imaging of data recorded in the new VCS format
A partial list of requested observations to satisfy the above goals are:
Goal | Number of obs | Duration (mins) | Pulsars (e.g.) |
|---|---|---|---|
#1 | 2 | 5-10 | B1749-28, B0031-07 |
#2 | 2 | 20 | J2241-5236 |
#3 | 2 | 60 | J0437-4715, J2145-0750 |
#4 | 4 | 10 | B0628-28, B0737-40, B0740-28, B1749-28 |
#5 | 3 | 20 | J0036-1033 (and B0031-07, J0034-0534) |
Observations
The following link performs a query on the MWA observation database, showing the details of the observations made so far:
The following table is a summary of the same observations, and which of the goals (see the table above) that they are intended to satisfy:
| Obsid | Duration (sec) | Files | Pulsar(s) / Calibrator(s) | RA/Dec | PC RA/Dec | Az/El | Goal | Processing | Download folder |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1323690320 | 296 | 24 | In-beam calibration (for 1323690616) | 11.8 / -5.8 | 8.5 / -7.4 | 341.6 / 68.0 | 1, 5 |
| /astro/mwavcs/asvo/253001 |
| 1323690616 | 1200 | 3600 VCS | B0031-07 J0036-1033 J0034-0534 | 8.0 / -5.2 | 8.5 / -7.4 | 326.3 / 64.7 | 1, 5 |
| /astro/mwavcs/asvo/253008 |
| 1323708616 | 296 | 24 | In-beam calibration (for 1323709032) | 95.1 / -26.7 | 97.7 / -28.6 | 0.0 / 90.0 | 1, 4 |
| /astro/mwavcs/asvo/253000 |
| 1323708912 | 120 | 24 | PicA (for 1323709032) | 75.9 / -46.4 | 80.0 / -45.8 | 213.7 / 64.7 | 1, 4 |
| /astro/mwavcs/asvo/252998 |
| 1323709032 | 600 | 1800 VCS | B0628-28 | 97.5 / -26.7 | 97.7 / -28.6 | 0.0 / 90.0 | 1, 4 |
| |
| 1323776720 | 120 | 24 | PKS2356-61 (for 1323776840) | 4.3 / -62.7 | 359.8 / -60.9 | 191.3 / 52.8 | 1, 2 |
| /astro/mwavcs/asvo/252999 |
| 1323776840 | 1200 | 3600 VCS | J2241-5236 | 346.9 / -51.9 | 340.4 / -52.6 | 216.9 / 53.6 | 1, 2 |
|