CAREER: Towards an Accessible Radio Astronomy Observatory in Rural Midwest

Winona State University, Winona MN

Investigators

Abstract

Radio arrays are often built in remote locations and co-located with other highly sensitive instruments. Developing technologies to support these arrays can be expensive and difficult to coordinate with the observatories. The need for hands-on experience is seen in fields aiming to achieve extremely high dynamic range such as 21cm cosmology, where progress is limited by systematic effects. Understanding the subtle instrumental effects and finding ways to cope with them – through innovative hardware or software improvements – is needed to unlock the potential of low frequency radio astronomy. This project will build local expertise and capabilities at a predominantly undergraduate institution to support an accessible radio astronomy observatory in the rural Midwest. Three student researchers will be hired each year. In addition to enhancing their astronomy education, the students will gain a wide array of transferable skills including high performance computing, electronic design, RF testing, system engineering, data analysis, statistics, and algorithmic development. The Long Wavelength Array (LWA) Swarm is a novel concept to build several radio interferometers across the continent. Each station will operate independently with capabilities to study stellar bursts, pulsars, and the ionosphere. But the real capability of the Swarm is enabled when the stations operate together as a long baseline interferometer. The resulting instrument will have sub-arcsecond resolution at frequencies below the FM band, opening opportunities to study magnetic fields of extra-solar planets and resolve the scattering disks of pulsars. Over the course of five years, this project will establish the Midwest Minnesota site for the observatory and perform a variety of demonstrations and experiments that will enhance future proposals to build a larger scale facility. The observatory will provide opportunities for U.S. based researchers to perform ad hoc instrumentation experiments as well as host a station for a continental scale interferometer. Furthermore, the location will add significant value to the point spread function of the LWA Swarm by providing a much-needed North-South baseline and improving sky coverage at high latitudes to open the possibility of continuous observing of the north celestial pole. A low-barrier testbed site will enable fast development of technologies to progress larger experiments in high-priority science fields, while giving low-cost hands-on field experience to students, particularly undergraduates where research experiences have significant impact on retention and views toward STEM careers. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.