Search

We present the first observations of the Sun with the Allen Telescope Array (ATA). We used up to six frequencies, from 1.43 to 6 GHz, and baselines from 6 to 300 m. To our knowledge, these are the first simultaneous multi-frequency full-Sun maps obtained at microwave frequencies without mosaicing. The observations took place when the Sun was relatively quiet, although at least one active region was present each time. We present multi-frequency flux budgets for each of the sources on the Sun. Outside of active regions, assuming optically thin bremsstrahlung (free-free) coronal emission on top of an optically thick ≈ 10 000 K chromosphere, the multi-frequency information can be condensed into a single, frequency-independent, 'coronal bremsstrahlung contribution function' $[\mathrm{EM}/\sqrt{T}]$ map. This technique allows the separation of the physics of emission as well as a measurement of the density structure of the corona. Deviations from this simple relationship usually indicate the presence of an additional gyroresonance-emission component, as is typical in active regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate a signal-processing concept for imaging the sky at millisecond rates with radio interferometers. The "Pocket Correlator" (PoCo) correlates the signals from multiple elements of a radio interferometer fast enough to image brief, dispersed pulses. By the nature of interferometry, a millisecond correlator functions like a large, single-dish telescope, but with improved survey speed, spatial localization, calibration, and interference rejection. To test the concept, we installed PoCo at the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) to search for dispersed pulses from the Crab pulsar, B0329+54, and M31 using total-power, visibility-based, and image-plane techniques. In 1.7 hr of observing, PoCo detected 191 giant pulses from the Crab pulsar brighter than a typical 5σ sensitivity limit of 60 Jy over pulse widths of 3 ms. Roughly 40% of pulses from pulsar B0329+54 were detected by using novel visibility-based techniques. Observations of M31 constrain the rate of pulses brighter than 190 Jy in a three-degree region surrounding the galaxy to <4.3 hr-1. We calculate the computational demand of various visibility-based pulse search algorithms and demonstrate how compute clusters can help meet this demand. Larger implementations of the fast imaging concept will conduct blind searches for millisecond pulses in our Galaxy and beyond, providing a valuable probe of the interstellar/intergalactic media, discovering new kinds of radio transients, and localizing them to constrain models of their origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]