Department of Physics & Astronomy
University of New Mexico

Center for Astrophysics Research and Technologies Seminar Series

Introducing Fast Direct Imaging in Radio Astronomy: EPIC

Presented by James Kent (Cambridge)

Radio astronomy is undergoing a renaissance, with a plethora of new and novel interferometric instruments. There is a particular interest on high density instruments with a very large number of low-cost antennas for low frequency observations. Radio interferometry most commonly relies on using FX correlators,where voltage data from each antenna element is cross multiplied together and averaged over a number of seconds. For new instruments as discussed above, as antenna elements increase, the computation required can become restrictive.

We present an implementation of an efficient parallel imaging correlator (EPIC), where we can produce images in real-time allowing a high degree of time resolution, allowing interesting study of transient phenomena such as Pulsars and Fast Radio Bursts (FRB's). This implementation is made using a novel high performance streaming framework using NVidia GPU's. This is being initially deployed on the Long Wavelength Array (LWA) in collaboration with the University of New Mexico and NRAO.

2:00 pm, Thursday, August 30, 2018
PAIS-2540, PAIS

Disability NoticeIndividuals with disabilities who need an auxiliary aid or service to attend or participate in P&A events should contact the Physics Department (phone: 505-277-2616, email: physics@unm.edu) well in advance to ensure your needs are accomodated. Event handouts can be provided in alternative accessible formats upon request. Please contact the Physics front office if you need written information in an alternative format.

A schedule of talks within the Department of Physics and Astronomy is available on the P&A web site at http://physics.unm.edu/pandaweb/events/index.php