frb-voe: A Real-time Virtual Observatory Event Alert Service for Fast Radio Bursts

Thomas C. Abbott; Andrew V. Zwaniga; Charanjot Brar; Victoria M. Kaspi; Emily Petroff; Mohit Bhardwaj; P. J. Boyle; Amanda M. Cook; Ronniy C. Joseph; Kiyoshi W. Masui; Ayush Pandhi; Ziggy Pleunis; Paul Scholz; Kaitlyn Shin; Shriharsh Tendulkar

doi:10.3847/1538-3881/ad9451

The Astronomical Journal (Jan 2024)

frb-voe: A Real-time Virtual Observatory Event Alert Service for Fast Radio Bursts

Thomas C. Abbott,
Andrew V. Zwaniga,
Charanjot Brar,
Victoria M. Kaspi,
Emily Petroff,
Mohit Bhardwaj,
P. J. Boyle,
Amanda M. Cook,
Ronniy C. Joseph,
Kiyoshi W. Masui,
Ayush Pandhi,
Ziggy Pleunis,
Paul Scholz,
Kaitlyn Shin,
Shriharsh Tendulkar

Affiliations

Thomas C. Abbott: ORCiD; Department of Physics, McGill University , 3600 rue University, Montréal, QC H3A 2T8, Canada; Trottier Space Institute at McGill University, 3550 rue University , Montréal, QC H3A 2A7, Canada
Andrew V. Zwaniga: ORCiD; Department of Physics, Toronto Metropolitan University , 350 Victoria Street, Toronto ON M5B 2K3, Canada
Charanjot Brar: ORCiD; Department of Physics, McGill University , 3600 rue University, Montréal, QC H3A 2T8, Canada; Trottier Space Institute at McGill University, 3550 rue University , Montréal, QC H3A 2A7, Canada
Victoria M. Kaspi: ORCiD; Department of Physics, McGill University , 3600 rue University, Montréal, QC H3A 2T8, Canada; Trottier Space Institute at McGill University, 3550 rue University , Montréal, QC H3A 2A7, Canada
Emily Petroff: ORCiD; Department of Physics, McGill University , 3600 rue University, Montréal, QC H3A 2T8, Canada; Trottier Space Institute at McGill University, 3550 rue University , Montréal, QC H3A 2A7, Canada; Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics , 31 Caroline Street N, Waterloo, ON N25 2YL, Canada
Mohit Bhardwaj: ORCiD; McWilliams Center for Cosmology, Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University , Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
P. J. Boyle: ORCiD; Department of Physics, McGill University , 3600 rue University, Montréal, QC H3A 2T8, Canada
Amanda M. Cook: ORCiD; David A. Dunlap Institute Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto , 50 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H4, Canada; Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto , 50 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada
Ronniy C. Joseph: ORCiD; Department of Physics, McGill University , 3600 rue University, Montréal, QC H3A 2T8, Canada; Trottier Space Institute at McGill University, 3550 rue University , Montréal, QC H3A 2A7, Canada
Kiyoshi W. Masui: ORCiD; MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Ayush Pandhi: ORCiD; David A. Dunlap Institute Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto , 50 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H4, Canada; Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto , 50 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada
Ziggy Pleunis: ORCiD; Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam , Science Park 904, 1098 XH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy , Oude Hoogeveensedijk 4, 7991 PD Dwingeloo, The Netherlands
Paul Scholz: ORCiD; Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto , 50 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada; Department of Physics and Astronomy, York University , 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario, ON MJ3 1P3, Canada
Kaitlyn Shin: ORCiD; MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Shriharsh Tendulkar: ORCiD; Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research , Mumbai, 400005, India; National Centre for Radio Astrophysics , Post Bag 3, Ganeshkhind, Pune, 411007, India

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ad9451
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 169, no. 1
p. 39

Abstract

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We present frb-voe , a publicly available software package that enables radio observatories to broadcast fast radio burst (FRB) alerts to subscribers through low-latency virtual observatory events (VOEvents). We describe a use case of frb-voe by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment Fast Radio Burst (CHIME/FRB) Collaboration, which has broadcast thousands of FRB alerts to subscribers worldwide. Using this service, observers have daily opportunities to conduct rapid multiwavelength follow-up observations of new FRB sources. Alerts are distributed as machine-readable reports and as emails containing FRB metadata, and are available to the public within approximately 13 s of detection. A sortable database and a downloadable JSON file containing FRB metadata from all broadcast alerts can be found on CHIME/FRB’s public webpage. The frb-voe service also provides users with the ability to retrieve FRB names from the Transient Name Server through the frb-voe client user interface. The frb-voe service can act as a foundation on which any observatory that detects FRBs can build its own VOEvent broadcasting service to contribute to the coordinated multiwavelength follow-up of astrophysical transients.

Published in The Astronomical Journal

ISSN: 0004-6256 (Print); 1538-3881 (Online)
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science: Astronomy
Website: https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/1538-3881

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