Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

Fast Transient Discoveries with realfast at the VLA

Casey Law

Caltech

Radio interferometers have the ability to precisely localize and better characterize the properties of sources. This ability is having a powerful impact on the study of Fast Radio Bursts, where a few milliseconds of data is enough to pinpoint a source at cosmological distances. I will describe realfast, a commensal, fast transient search system integrated with the Jansky Very Large Array. By detecting transients in situ, realfast can trigger the recording of data for those rare, brief instants when the event occurs and reduce the recorded data volume by a factor of 1000. I will present the current status of realfast, including a summary of transient science results.