An Injection System for the CHIME/FRB Experiment

Marcus Merryfield; Shriharsh P. Tendulkar; Kaitlyn Shin; Bridget Andersen; Alexander Josephy; Deborah Good; Fengqiu Adam Dong; Kiyoshi W. Masui; Dustin Lang; Moritz Münchmeyer; Charanjot Brar; Tomas Cassanelli; Matt Dobbs; Emmanuel Fonseca; Victoria M. Kaspi; Juan Mena-Parra; Ziggy Pleunis; Masoud Rafiei-Ravandi; Ketan R. Sand; Paul Scholz; Kendrick Smith; Ingrid H. Stairs

doi:10.3847/1538-3881/ac9ab5

The Astronomical Journal (Jan 2023)

An Injection System for the CHIME/FRB Experiment

Marcus Merryfield,
Shriharsh P. Tendulkar,
Kaitlyn Shin,
Bridget Andersen,
Alexander Josephy,
Deborah Good,
Fengqiu Adam Dong,
Kiyoshi W. Masui,
Dustin Lang,
Moritz Münchmeyer,
Charanjot Brar,
Tomas Cassanelli,
Matt Dobbs,
Emmanuel Fonseca,
Victoria M. Kaspi,
Juan Mena-Parra,
Ziggy Pleunis,
Masoud Rafiei-Ravandi,
Ketan R. Sand,
Paul Scholz,
Kendrick Smith,
Ingrid H. Stairs

Affiliations

Marcus Merryfield: ORCiD; Department of Physics, McGill University, 3600 rue University, Montréal , QC H3A 2T8, Canada ; [email protected]; McGill Space Institute, McGill University, 3550 rue University, Montréal , QC H3A 2A7, Canada
Shriharsh P. 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
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
Bridget Andersen: ORCiD; Department of Physics, McGill University, 3600 rue University, Montréal , QC H3A 2T8, Canada ; [email protected]; McGill Space Institute, McGill University, 3550 rue University, Montréal , QC H3A 2A7, Canada
Alexander Josephy: ORCiD; Department of Physics, McGill University, 3600 rue University, Montréal , QC H3A 2T8, Canada ; [email protected]; McGill Space Institute, McGill University, 3550 rue University, Montréal , QC H3A 2A7, Canada
Deborah Good: ORCiD; Department of Physics, University of Connecticut , 196 Auditorium Road, U-3046, Storrs, CT 06269-3046, USA; Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute , 162 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA
Fengqiu Adam Dong: ORCiD; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia , 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1 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
Dustin Lang: ORCiD; Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics , 31 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, ON N2L 2Y5, Canada; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo , Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Moritz Münchmeyer: ORCiD; Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison , 1150 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706, USA
Charanjot Brar: ORCiD; Department of Physics, McGill University, 3600 rue University, Montréal , QC H3A 2T8, Canada ; [email protected]; McGill Space Institute, McGill University, 3550 rue University, Montréal , QC H3A 2A7, Canada
Tomas Cassanelli: ORCiD; Department of Electrical Engineering, Universidad de Chile , Av. Tupper 2007, Santiago 8370451, Chile
Matt Dobbs: ORCiD; Department of Physics, McGill University, 3600 rue University, Montréal , QC H3A 2T8, Canada ; [email protected]; McGill Space Institute, McGill University, 3550 rue University, Montréal , QC H3A 2A7, Canada
Emmanuel Fonseca: ORCiD; Department of Physics and Astronomy, West Virginia University , PO Box 6315, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA; Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology, West Virginia University , Chestnut Ridge Research Building, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA
Victoria M. Kaspi: ORCiD; Department of Physics, McGill University, 3600 rue University, Montréal , QC H3A 2T8, Canada ; [email protected]; McGill Space Institute, McGill University, 3550 rue University, Montréal , QC H3A 2A7, Canada
Juan Mena-Parra: ORCiD; MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Ziggy Pleunis: ORCiD; Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto , 50 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada
Masoud Rafiei-Ravandi: ORCiD; Department of Physics, McGill University, 3600 rue University, Montréal , QC H3A 2T8, Canada ; [email protected]; McGill Space Institute, McGill University, 3550 rue University, Montréal , QC H3A 2A7, Canada
Ketan R. Sand: ORCiD; Department of Physics, McGill University, 3600 rue University, Montréal , QC H3A 2T8, Canada ; [email protected]; McGill Space Institute, McGill University, 3550 rue University, Montréal , QC H3A 2A7, Canada
Paul Scholz: ORCiD; Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto , 50 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada
Kendrick Smith: ORCiD; Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics , 31 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, ON N2L 2Y5, Canada
Ingrid H. Stairs: ORCiD; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia , 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1 Canada

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ac9ab5
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 165, no. 4
p. 152

Abstract

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Dedicated surveys searching for fast radio bursts (FRBs) are subject to selection effects that bias the observed population of events. Software injection systems are one method of correcting for these biases by injecting a mock population of synthetic FRBs directly into the real-time search pipeline. The injected population may then be used to map intrinsic burst properties onto an expected signal-to-noise ratio (S/N), so long as telescope characteristics such as the beam model and calibration factors are properly accounted for. This paper presents an injection system developed for the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment Fast Radio Burst Project (CHIME/FRB). The system was tested to ensure high detection efficiency, and the pulse calibration method was verified. Using an injection population of ∼85,000 synthetic FRBs, we found that the correlation between fluence and S/N for injected FRBs was consistent with that of CHIME/FRB detections in the first CHIME/FRB catalog. We noted that the sensitivity of the telescope varied strongly as a function of the broadened burst width, but not as a function of the dispersion measure. We conclude that some of the machine-learning based Radio Frequency Interference mitigation methods used by CHIME/FRB can be retrained using injection data to increase sensitivity to wide events, and that planned upgrades to the presented injection system will allow for determining a more accurate CHIME/FRB selection function in the near future. We also provide the full injection data sets along with usage tutorials.

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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