Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: The Canadian Hydrogen Observatory and Radio-transient Detector (CHORD) is a next-generation wideband radio interferometer currently being constructed and commissioned at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory in British Columbia, Canada. CHORD is designed for precision 21\,cm cosmology, fast radio transient discovery, spectral line galaxy surveys, and pulsar science using a highly redundant large-N, small-diameter drift-scan array architecture. The telescope consists of a 512-element core array of 6\,m dishes operating from 300--1500\,MHz in drift-scan mode, together with two 64-dish outrigger stations located at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory and the Green Bank Observatory for long-baseline transient localization. The instrument supports multiple simultaneous digital backends for interferometric correlation, FRB detection, pulsar beamforming, and high spectral resolution surveys. CHORD is designed with an emphasis on precision beam control and stable instrumental response, incorporating lessons learned from the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) while providing a substantial increase in sensitivity. Initial performance has been evaluated using a three-dish engineering array, and a 64-dish pathfinder array is currently being commissioned. The full array will be commissioned in 2028.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: The CHORD Collaboration, Bandura, Kevin, Belostotski, Leonid, Berkhout, Lindsay, Bernardi, Gianni, Bij, Akanksha, Cameron-Steinke, Duncan, Chakraborty, Arnab, Chiang, Hsin Cynthia, Cliche, Jean-Francois, Da Costa, Sophia, Davies-Velie, Evan, Dobbs, Matt, Fonseca, Emmanuel, Foreman, Simon, Goodwin, Qwin, Hendricksen, Ian, Hessels, Jason, Hill, Alex S., Islam, Mohammad, Jafs, Michael, Madhusudhan, Aditya Krishna Karigiri, Lacy, Gordon, Lang, Dustin, Leung, Calvin, Lin, Jessie, Liu, Adrian, MacKay, Vincent, Masui, Kiyoshi W., Mena-Parra, Juan, Mertens, James, Michilli, Daniele, Nimmo, Kenzie, Pascua, Robert, Pilia, Maura, Possenti, Andrea, Prasad, Aniket, Renard, Andre, Rubens, Sophia D'Agostino, Sammons, Mawson, Schnetter, Erik, Scholz, Paul, Siegel, Seth, Sievers, Jonathan, Smith, Kendrick, Spekkens, Kristine, Tiwari, Shronim, Topinka, Martin, Trudu, Matteo, Vanderlinde, Keith, Wulf, Dallas, Zhao, Yifan
Institutions: West Virginia University, University of Calgary, Trottier Space Institute at McGill, McGill University, Queen's University, York University, University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus, University of Toronto, Arizona State University, Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, National Research Council Canada, Charles University, University of Waterloo, Perimeter Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Case Western Reserve University, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Aix-Marseille Université, Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, Northwestern University
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7168127482