{
  "id": "1412.7536",
  "version": "v1",
  "published": "2014-12-23T19:26:58.000Z",
  "updated": "2014-12-23T19:26:58.000Z",
  "title": "A Millisecond Interferometric Search for Fast Radio Bursts with the Very Large Array",
  "authors": [
    "Casey J. Law",
    "Geoffrey C. Bower",
    "Sarah Burke-Spolaor",
    "Bryan Butler",
    "Earl Lawrence",
    "T. Joseph W. Lazio",
    "Chris A. Mattmann",
    "Michael Rupen",
    "Andrew Siemion",
    "Scott VanderWiel"
  ],
  "comment": "Submitted to ApJ. 13 pages, 9 figures",
  "categories": [
    "astro-ph.HE",
    "astro-ph.IM"
  ],
  "abstract": "We report on the first millisecond timescale radio interferometric search for the new class of transient known as fast radio bursts (FRBs). We used the Very Large Array (VLA) for a 166-hour, millisecond imaging campaign to detect and precisely localize an FRB. We observed at 1.4 GHz and produced visibilities with 5 ms time resolution over 256 MHz of bandwidth. Dedispersed images were searched for transients with dispersion measures from 0 to 3000 pc/cm3. No transients were detected in observations of high Galactic latitude fields taken from September 2013 though October 2014. Observations of a known pulsar show that images typically had a thermal-noise limited sensitivity of 120 mJy/beam (8 sigma; Stokes I) in 5 ms and could detect and localize transients over a wide field of view. Our nondetection limits the FRB rate to less than 7e4/sky/day (95% confidence) above a fluence limit of 1.2 Jy-ms. Assuming a Euclidean flux distribution, the VLA rate limit is inconsistent with the published rate of Thornton et al. We recalculate previously published rates with a homogeneous consideration of the effects of primary beam attenuation, dispersion, pulse width, and sky brightness. This revises the FRB rate downward and shows that the VLA observations had a roughly 60% chance of detecting a typical FRB and that a 95% confidence constraint would require roughly 500 hours of similar VLA observing. Our survey also limits the repetition rate of an FRB to 2 times less than any known repeating millisecond radio transient.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v1",
      "updated": "2014-12-23T19:26:58.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "fast radio bursts",
      "millisecond interferometric search",
      "large array",
      "timescale radio interferometric search",
      "galactic latitude fields taken"
    ],
    "publication": {
      "doi": "10.1088/0004-637X/807/1/16",
      "journal": "The Astrophysical Journal",
      "year": 2015,
      "month": "Jul",
      "volume": 807,
      "number": 1,
      "pages": 16
    },
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 13,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable",
      "inspire": 1335472,
      "adsabs": "2015ApJ...807...16L"
    }
  }
}