CHIME/Slow Overview and Pilot Survey: A New Backend to Search for Second-duration Radio Transients with the CHIME Telescope
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: We present an overview of CHIME/Slow, a real-time transient search backend under development to search for second-duration radio transients using the CHIME telescope, and results obtained from a pilot survey carried out using the prototype version of the search pipeline. The prototype CHIME/Slow pipeline was tested on archival data obtained in 2022 December, 2023 January, and 2023 February with a total on-sky time of 17 days with an instantaneous field of view of ∼13 deg 2 . In this pilot survey, we detected nine bursts, one from a new nonrepeating source, FRB 20230204C, and eight from the known hyperactive repeating source FRB 20220912A. Out of these nine bursts, two bursts from the repeater were not detected by CHIME/FRB, while the nonrepeater was detected in the side-lobe of a beam in CHIME/FRB, exhibiting shorter burst width and narrower bandwidth compared to the CHIME/Slow detection. Here we report properties of the bursts, discuss the sensitivity and completeness of the current version of the CHIME/Slow pipeline, and outline future development to improve its performance. Finally, based on these results, we report the all-sky rate (95% credible region) of radio transients with burst widths between 16 ms and 5 s, fluence above 5 Jy ms, and observing frequency of 600 MHz to be between 184 and 4556 bursts sky −1 day −1 .
Source: The Astrophysical Journal
Authors: Sujay Mate, Kevin Luke, Yash Bhusare, Arvind Balasubramanian, Ziggy Pleunis, Paul Scholz, Shriharsh P. Tendulkar, Mohit Bhardwaj, Charanjot Brar, Fengqiu Adam Dong, Emmanuel Fonseca, B. M. Gaensler, Jason Hessels, Jeff Huang, Naman Jain, Ronniy C. Joseph, Victoria M. Kaspi, Afrokk Khan, Robert Main, Bradley W. Meyers, Nikola Milutinovic, Kenzie Nimmo, Kaitlyn Shin, David Spear, Ingrid Stairs, Chia Min Tan
Institutions: Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Raman Research Institute, Sorbonne Université, National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, York University, Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, West Virginia University, University of Toronto, McGill University, Curtin University, University of British Columbia, Northwestern University, California Institute of Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $4,499
Funders: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, McGill University, Space Telescope Science Institute, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Canada Foundation for Innovation, European Commission, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Canada Excellence Research Chairs, Government of Canada, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, University of Toronto, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology
Awards: G1908529863, G1979407794, G2614460161, Using fast radio bursts as astrophysical tools, G433322167, AstroFlash: probing the extremes of the Universe at high time and spatial resolution, G5138678945, G514890201, G5180320897, G5539312340, G5622021303, G58316358, G6273510985, G6332097519, G807922661, G8358479056
OpenAlex ID: W7129006114
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