2022-06-09
Present:
Garvit Grover
Susmita Sett
Sam McSweeney
Ramesh Bhat
Steven Tremblay
Shi Dai
Willem van Straten
Mengyao Xue
Ryan Shannon
Agenda:
1. General updates (Ramesh)
2. Calibration of SMART obs (Sammy)
3. FAST follow-up of MWA pulsars (Mengyao)
4. Simulation exercise to test FFA (Garvit)
5. MWA imaging of PSR J0026 (Sammy/Ramesh)
6. Paper updates (Ramesh/Sammy)
7. Discussion on the PFT policy (all)
Minutes:
General updates (Ramesh)
Update on MWA and 2022A: "MWA is officially back online", ~100 tiles functioning
Installing 17th receiver (= 136 tiles) – stepping towards Phase III (target = 256 tiles)
Compact configuration will not come back until end of semester (~Sep? Oct?) – no change since last update
PSR #2 followup
Imaged with GMRT (Band 3 & Band 4)
Positional offset of 30'' between MWA and GMRT consistent with ionospheric. Other(?) offsets within 4''.
PSR #3 followup
UWL detection (thanks to Shi): S1600 ~ 0.1 mJy
GMRT detection Band 3, ~30 mins
Detection in band 3 image faint, possibly non-detection
Detection in band 4 also faint, but identification of pulsar with a few closely-spaced sources is tricky.
Other updates
Processing slow down (ASVO has been down)
Carry-on effects = haven't been able to complete requested processing time
Webapp further development has been requested
MWAX commissioning won't progress until Aug/Sept
SGAN tool yet to be implemented
Isaac Colleran got honourable mention for his Honours thesis
Discussion on the PFT policy (all)
Need to formalise before upcoming MWA Project meeting – written policy required by MWA board
Probably can be "minimal" in terms of structure
Summary of points to consider (not listed in these minutes)
Ryan: Points should include "future capabilities", "scope of SWG's work"
Ramesh: Yes, agree. Scope can be broadened
**Willem leaves**
Sam: To what extent can we rely on default MWA policy?
Ramesh: publication policy is already well defined, but data management is "group-specific" and needs to be addressed. Similarly for defining how work duplication is avoided.
Mengyao: Should include up-to-date list of projects for better management of diversity of projects, at increasing number of places around the world
Ramesh: Agreed.
Calibration (Sam)
Calibration solutions by Nick previously using RTS
Working on polarisation calibration
All solutions on SMART Web app
Improving the solutions - remake with Hyperdrive, interpolate over RFI-ridden channels, improved sky models to reduce power in XY and YX, some extra tile flagging is warranted
Main concern - get polarisation right!
Finding the X-Y phase offset - Using only stokes I models so not constrained,
Model using single number - stable in time
Plan forward - Garvit follow up of an obs 1267111608, which has B0943+10, use fractional polarisation to check leakage from I as pulsar passes through primary beam, verify/repeat for other pulsars
FAST follow-up of MWA pulsars (Mengyao)
Granted several hrs to observe PSR #1 (only one in MWA/FAST common sky)
Interesting for its scintillation
PRESTO/PSRCHIVE plots shown
Second observing run had lots of RFI, but can be seen in the last minutes!
Ramesh & Sam: Surprising to see how it behaves in time/frequency for second observing run!
Ramesh: Can we ask for make-up time for second obs (because of RFI)?
Mengyao: Can ask in August
Garvit's update:
Following up candidates for most recent batch of ranked candidates – nothing convincing yet, is ongoing
Other work is making simulations of pulsar signals in order to compare different search algorithms compare (FFT vs FFA vs single pulse)
Ramesh: GMRT just published a paper on a similar exercise (comparing FFT and FFA)
Ramesh update on survey description paper
Timescale for getting survey description paper out to MWA collaboration review = ~ a few weeks
Almost all sections written (just lacking a couple of paragraphs from Ramesh and Sam)
Last remaining major task is finalising table and profile gallery plot
Brad and Steven to do first pass reading