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Fast radio bursts are bright, unresolved, non-repeating, broadband, millisecond flashes, found primarily at high Galactic latitudes, with dispersion measures much larger than expected for a Galactic source (1-7). The inferred all-sky burst rate (8) is comparable to the core-collapse supernova rate (9) out to redshift 0.5. If the observed dispersion measures are assumed to be dominated by the intergalactic medium, the sources are at cosmological distances with redshifts of 0.2 to 1 (refs 10 and 11). These parameters are consistent with a wide range of source models (12-17). One fast burst (6) revealed circular polarization of the radio emission, but no linear polarization was detected, and hence no Faraday rotation measure could be determined. Here we report the examination of archival data revealing Faraday rotation in the fast radio burst FRB 110523. Its radio flux and dispersion measure are consistent with values from previously reported bursts and, accounting for a Galactic contribution to the dispersion and using a model of intergalactic electron density (10), we place the source at a maximum redshift of 0.5. The burst has a much higher rotation measure than expected for this line of sight through the Milky Way and the intergalactic medium, indicating magnetization in the vicinity of the source itself or within a host galaxy. The pulse was scattered by two distinct plasma screens during propagation, which requires either a dense nebula associated with the source or a location within the central region of its host galaxy. The detection in this instance of magnetization and scattering that are both local to the source favours models involving young stellar populations such as magnetars over models involving the mergers of older neutron stars, which are more likely to be located in low-density regions of the host galaxy., We searched for fast radio bursts (FRBs) in a data archive we collected for the Green Bank Hydrogen Telescope (GBT) Intensity Mapping survey (18-20). The data span the frequency range [...]

We present the joint analysis of Neutral Hydrogen (H  i) Intensity Mapping observations with three galaxy samples: the Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) and Emission Line Galaxy (ELG) samples from the eBOSS survey, and the WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey sample. The H  i intensity maps are Green Bank Telescope observations of the redshifted |$21\rm cm$| emission on |$100 \, {\rm deg}^2$| covering the redshift range 0.6 < z < 1.0. We process the data by separating and removing the foregrounds present in the radio frequencies with FastI ICA. We verify the quality of the foreground separation with mock realizations, and construct a transfer function to correct for the effects of foreground removal on the H  i signal. We cross-correlate the cleaned H  i data with the galaxy samples and study the overall amplitude as well as the scale dependence of the power spectrum. We also qualitatively compare our findings with the predictions by a semianalytical galaxy evolution simulation. The cross-correlations constrain the quantity |$\Omega _{\rm {H\,\small {I}}} b_{\rm {H\,\small {I}}} r_{\rm {H\,\small {I}},{\rm opt}}$| at an effective scale k eff, where |$\Omega _\rm {H\,\small {I}}$| is the H   i density fraction, |$b_\rm {H\,\small {I}}$| is the H  i bias, and |$r_{\rm {H\,\small {I}},{\rm opt}}$| the galaxy–hydrogen correlation coefficient, which is dependent on the H   i content of the optical galaxy sample. At |$k_{\rm eff}=0.31 \, h\,{\rm Mpc^{-1}}$| we find |$\Omega _{\rm {H\,\small {I}}} b_{\rm {H\,\small {I}}} r_{\rm {H\,\small {I}},{\rm Wig}} = [0.58 \pm 0.09 \, {\rm (stat) \pm 0.05 \, {\rm (sys)}}] \times 10^{-3}$| for GBT-WiggleZ, |$\Omega _{\rm {H\,\small {I}}} b_{\rm {H\,\small {I}}} r_{\rm {H\,\small {I}},{\rm ELG}} = [0.40 \pm 0.09 \, {\rm (stat) \pm 0.04 \, {\rm (sys)}}] \times 10^{-3}$| for GBT-ELG, and |$\Omega _{\rm {H\,\small {I}}} b_{\rm {H\,\small {I}}} r_{\rm {H\,\small {I}},{\rm LRG}} = [0.35 \pm 0.08 \, {\rm (stat) \pm 0.03 \, {\rm (sys)}}] \times 10^{-3}$| for GBT-LRG, at z ≃ 0.8. We also report results at |$k_{\rm eff}=0.24$| and |$k_{\rm eff}=0.48 \, h\,{\rm Mpc^{-1}}$|⁠. With little information on H  i parameters beyond our local Universe, these are amongst the most precise constraints on neutral hydrogen density fluctuations in an underexplored redshift range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observations of 21-cm radio emission by neutral hydrogen at redshifts z ≅ 0.5 to ~2.5 are expected to provide a sensitive probe of cosmic dark energy (1,2). This is particularly true around the onset of acceleration at z ≅ 1, where traditional optical cosmology becomes very difficult because of the infrared opacity of the atmosphere. Hitherto, 21-cm emission has been detected (3) only to z = 0.24. More distant galaxies generally are too faint for individual detections but it is possible to measure the aggregate emission from many unresolved galaxies in the 'cosmic web'. Here we report a three-dimensional 21-cm intensity field at z = 0.53 to 1.12. We then co-add neutral-hydrogen (Hi) emission from the volumes surrounding about 10,000 galaxies (from the DEEP2 optical galaxy redshift survey (4)). We detect the aggregate 21-cm glow at a significance of ~4σ., The DEEP2 optical redshift survey (4) provides a rich sample for study of the Universe at redshifts near one. The team recorded optical spectra for 50,000 faint galaxies out to [...]

We present a principal component analysis method that tracks and compensates for short-timescale variability in pulsar profiles, with a goal of improving pulsar timing precision.We couple this with a fast likelihood technique for determining pulse time of arrival, marginalizing over the principal component amplitudes. This allows accurate estimation of timing errors in the presence of pulsar variability.We apply the algorithm to the slow pulsar PSR J2139+0040 using an archived set of untargeted raster-scan observations at arbitrary epochs across four years, obtaining an improved timing solution. The method permits accurate pulsar timing in data sets with short contiguous on-source observations, opening opportunities for commensality between pulsar timing and mapping surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimating the all-sky rate of fast radio bursts (FRBs) has been difficult due to small-number statistics and the fact that they are seen by disparate surveys in different regions of the sky. In this paper we provide limits for the FRB rate at 800 MHz based on the only burst detected at frequencies below 1.4 GHz, FRB 110523. We discuss the difficulties in rate estimation, particularly in providing an all-sky rate above a single fluence threshold. We find an implied rate between 700 and 900 MHz that is consistent with the rate at 1.4 GHz, scaling to 6.4+29.5-5.0 × 103 sky-1 d-1 for an HTRU-like survey. This is promising for upcoming experiments below a GHz like CHIME and UTMOST, for which we forecast detection rates. Given 110523's discovery at 32σ with nothing weaker detected, down to the threshold of 8σ, we find consistency with a Euclidean flux distribution but disfavour steep distributions, ruling out γ >2.2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a tentative detection of the large-scale structure of Ly α emission in the Universe at redshifts z = 2-3.5 by measuring the cross-correlation of Ly α surface brightness with quasars in Sloan Digital Sky Survey/Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. We use a million spectra targeting luminous red galaxies at z < 0.8, after subtracting a best-fitting model galaxy spectrum from each one, as an estimate of the high-redshift Ly α surface brightness. The quasar- Ly α emission cross-correlation is detected on scales 1 ~ 15 h-1 Mpc, with shape consistent with a ΛCDM model with Ωm = 0.30+0.10-0.07. The predicted amplitude of this cross-correlation is proportional to the product of the mean Ly α surface brightness, 〈μα〉, the amplitude of mass fluctuations and the quasar and Ly α emission bias factors. We infer 〈μα〉 (bα/3) = (3.9 ± 0.9) 10-21 erg s-1 cm-2 Å-1 arcsec-2, where bα is the Ly α emission bias. If star-forming galaxies dominate this emission, we find SFR = (0.28 ± 0.07)(3/bα) yr-1 Mpc-3. For bα = 3, this value is~30 times larger than previous estimates from individually detected Ly α emitters, but consistent with the total SFR derived from dust-corrected, continuum UV galaxy surveys, if most of the Ly α photons from these galaxies avoid dust absorption and are reemitted after diffusing in large gas haloes. Heating of intergalactic gas by He II photoionization from quasar radiation or jets may alternatively explain the detected correlation, and cooling radiation from gas in galactic haloes may also contribute. We also detect redshift space anisotropy of the quasar-Ly α emission cross-correlation, finding evidence at the 3.0s level that it is radially elongated, which may be explained by radiative-transfer effects. Our measurements represent the first application of the intensity mapping technique to optical observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a new upper limit to the 21-cm power spectrum during the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) which constrains reionization models with an unheated IGM. The GMRT-EoR experiment is an ongoing effort to make a statistical detection of the power spectrum of 21-cm neutral hydrogen emission at redshift . Data from this redshift constrain models of the EoR, the end of the Dark Ages arising from the formation of the first bright UV sources, probably stars or mini-quasars. We present results from approximately 50 h of observations with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope in India from 2007 December. We describe radio-frequency interference (RFI) localization schemes which allow bright sources on the ground to be identified and physically removed in addition to automated flagging. Singular-value decomposition is used to remove the remaining broad-band RFI by identifying ground sources with large eigenvalues. Foregrounds are modelled using a piecewise linear filter and the power spectrum is measured using cross-correlations of foreground-subtracted images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) reionization effort aims to map out the large-scale structure of the Universe during the epoch of reionization (EoR). Removal of polarized Galactic emission is a difficult part of any 21 cm EoR programme, and we present new upper limits to diffuse polarized foregrounds at 150 MHz. We find no high-significance evidence of polarized emission in our observed field at mid-galactic latitude (J2000 08h26m+26). We find an upper limit on the two-dimensional angular power spectrum of diffuse polarized foregrounds of in frequency bins of width at . The three-dimensional power spectrum of polarized emission, which is most directly relevant to EoR observations, is at . This can be compared to the expected EoR signal in total intensity of . We find that polarized structure is substantially weaker than suggested by extrapolation from higher frequency observations, so the new low upper limits reported here reduce the anticipated impact of these foregrounds on EoR experiments. We discuss the Faraday beam and depth depolarization models and compare predictions of these models to our data. We report on a new technique for polarization calibration using pulsars, as well as a new technique to remove broad-band radio frequency interference. Our data indicate that, on the edges of the main beam at the GMRT, polarization squint creates ∼3 per cent leakage of unpolarized power into polarized maps at zero rotation measure. Ionospheric rotation was largely stable during these solar minimum nighttime observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the first statistically significant detection of cosmic structure using broadly distributed hydrogen radio emission. This is accomplished using a cross-correlation with optical galaxies. Statistical noise levels of are achieved, unprecedented in this frequency band. The signal is consistent with arising from the collective flux of known populations of galaxies. This lends support to the idea that large volumes of the Universe can be rapidly mapped without the need to resolve individual faint galaxies, enabling precise constraints to dark energy models. We discuss strategies for improved intensity mapping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Array for Microwave Background Anisotropy is a 7-element interferometer to be sited on Mauna Loa, Hawaii. The seven 1.2m telescopes are mounted on a 6-meter platform, and operates at 3mm wavelength. At the time of this meeting, the telescope is under construction at the Vertex factory in Germany. It is due to be delivered in the middle of 2004. A 2-element prototype instrument has already been deployed to Mauna Loa where initial tests are underway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sensitivity and field of view of the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) has enabled its fast radio burst (FRB) backend to detect thousands of FRBs. However, the low angular resolution of CHIME prevents it from localizing most FRBs to their host galaxies. Very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) can readily provide the subarcsecond resolution needed to localize many FRBs to their hosts. Thus, we developed TONE: an interferometric array of eight 6-m dishes to serve as a pathfinder for the CHIME/FRB Outriggers project, which will use wide field-of-view cylinders to determine the sky positions for a large sample of FRBs, revealing their positions within their host galaxies to subarcsecond precision. In the meantime, TONE’s ∼3333 km baseline with CHIME proves to be an excellent testbed for the development and characterization of single-pulse VLBI techniques at the time of discovery. This work describes the TONE instrument, its sensitivity, and its astrometric precision in single-pulse VLBI. We believe that our astrometric errors are dominated by uncertainties in the clock measurements which build up between successive Crab pulsar calibrations which happen every ≈24 h; the wider fields-of-view and higher sensitivity of the Outriggers will provide opportunities for higher-cadence calibration. At present, CHIME-TONE localizations of the Crab pulsar yield systematic one-dimensional localization errors of ∼0.2 asec — considerably better than the resolution achievable with seeing limited followup observations in the optical/near-infrared from the ground. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observations of 21-cm radio emission by neutral hydrogen at redshifts z ≈ 0.5 to ∼2.5 are expected to provide a sensitive probe of cosmic dark energy. This is particularly true around the onset of acceleration at z ≈ 1, where traditional optical cosmology becomes very difficult because of the infrared opacity of the atmosphere. Hitherto, 21-cm emission has been detected only to z = 0.24. More distant galaxies generally are too faint for individual detections but it is possible to measure the aggregate emission from many unresolved galaxies in the ‘cosmic web’. Here we report a three-dimensional 21-cm intensity field at z = 0.53 to 1.12. We then co-add neutral-hydrogen (H i) emission from the volumes surrounding about 10,000 galaxies (from the DEEP2 optical galaxy redshift survey). We detect the aggregate 21-cm glow at a significance of ∼4σ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expansion of the Universe appears to be accelerating, and the mysterious antigravity agent of this acceleration has been called "dark energy." To measure the dynamics of dark energy, baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) can be used. Previous discussions of the BAO dark energy test have focused on direct measurements of redshifts of as many as 10(9) individual galaxies, by observing the 21 cm line or by detecting optical emission. Here we show how the study of acoustic oscillation in the 21 cm brightness can be accomplished by economical three-dimensional intensity mapping. If our estimates gain acceptance they may be the starting point for a new class of dark energy experiments dedicated to large angular scale mapping of the radio sky, shedding light on dark energy.