FAST Pulsar and Transient Search of the M31 Bulge

We are searching the bulge of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST). HEINDALL and FETCH are used to search for single pulses and bursts. PRESTO is used for the periodicity search.

This research has used the Franklin and Marshall College compute cluster which was funded through NSF grant 1925192.

Project Participants

  • Fronefield Crawford (F&M)
  • Natalia Lewandowska (Swarthmore)
  • Maura McLaughlin (WVU)
  • Duncan Lorimer (WVU)
  • Jim Cordes (Cornell)
  • Shami Chatterjee (Cornell)
  • Pei Wang (Chinese Academy of Sciences)
  • Shinnosuke Hisano (Kumamoto University)

    Data Files and Results 

      Source: PSR B0136+57 (P=272.49 ms, DM=73.8)

  Obs Date:   20211207 (MJD 59555)
  FITS Files: B0136+57_tracking-M01_[0001,0139].fits
  FIL File:   B0136+57_tracking-M01_20211207.fil
  Obs Length: 1781 sec 

  Processing Results: 
  * prepfold direct fold: B0136+57 detection (sigma=9400)
  * presto perodicity search (no acceleration): B0136+57 detection (sigma=7755)
  * presto perodicity search (zmax 1200): B0136+57 detection (sigma=9546) 
  * presto single pulse search (DM vs time, 20 sec window): B0136+57 detection 
  * heimdall/fetch single pulse search (max boxcar 512): B0136+57 detection (there were 2394 pulses with p > 90%)

  
  Source: PSR B0136+57 (P=272.49 ms, DM=73.8)

  Obs Date:   20211216 (MJD 59564)
  FITS Files: B0136+57_tracking-M01_[0001,0139].fits
  FIL File:   B0136+57_tracking-M01_20211216.fil
  Obs Length: 1781 s

  Processing Results: 
  * prepfold direct fold: B0136+57 detection (sigma=6821)
  * presto perodicity search (no acceleration): B0136+57 detection (sigma=5773)
  * presto perodicity search (zmax 1200): B0136+57 detection (sigma=5630) 
  * presto single pulse search (DM vs time, 20 sec window): B0136+57 detection
  * heimdall/fetch single pulse search (max boxcar 512): B0136+57 detection (there were 3496 pulses with p > 90%)


  Source: M31

  Obs Date:   20211207 (MJD 59555) 
  FITS Files: M31_snapshot-M01_[0001,0607].fits
  FIL File:   M31_snapshot-M01_20211207.fil 
  Obs Length: 7821 s

  Processing Results:
  * presto perodicity search (no acceleration): no candidates above prepfold sigma 5.0
  * presto perodicity search (zmax 1200): 9 candidates above prepfold sigma 5.0 
  * presto chunk processing (zmax 1200, prep sigma above 6, min chunk of 600 s): no candidates 
  * presto single pulse search (plots in 900 sec windows): no candidates above S/N 6.0
  * heimdall/fetch single pulse search (max boxcar 512): 1 candidate above S/N 7.0 (DM=70, S/N=7.2, p=0.99977976)
  * heimdall/fetch single pulse search (max boxcar 4096): no candidates above S/N 7.0 
  * riptide FFA search: no candidates 


  Source: M31 

  Obs Date:   20211216 (MJD 59564)
  FITS Files: M31_snapshot-M01_[0001,0607].fits
  FIL File:   M31_snapshot-M01_20211216.fil
  Obs Length: 7821 s

  Processing Results:
  * presto perodicity search (no acceleration): no candidates above prepfold sigma 5.0
  * presto perodicity search (zmax 1200): 1 candidate above prepfold sigma 5.0
  * presto chunk processing (zmax 1200, prep sigma above 6, min chunk of 600 s): no candidates
  * presto single pulse search (plots in 900 sec windows): no candidates above S/N 6.0
  * heimdall/fetch single pulse search (max boxcar 512): no candidates above S/N 7.0
  * heimdall/fetch single pulse search (max boxcar 4096): no candidates above S/N 7.0
  * riptide FFA search: no candidates

    Below: (left) Image of M31 with the planned survey region indicated by the green circle, and (right) the FAST telescope (image credit: Ou Dongqu/Xinhua/ZUMA).