The DSA/Chronoscope fast radio burst survey: forecasts and science overview

Abstract

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are bright extragalactic transients with several mysteries surrounding their origins. Large FRB samples enable accurate measurements of the cosmic matter distribution, in particular on scales ≲ 10 Mpc. These measurements will impact cosmological inference and our understanding of astrophysical feedback, from the circumgalactic medium to cluster scales. Here we forecast the expected yields, redshifts, and host galaxies of FRBs as observed by the Deep Synoptic Array (DSA), and describe the key science cases enabled by the large FRB sample. The DSA will be an interferometer consisting of 1650×6.15 m antennas, operating between 0.7--2 GHz, to be located in Nevada, USA. The Chronoscope backend on the DSA, hereafter DSA/Chronoscope, is designed to search for FRBs across the field of view in real time, enabling the storage of full-polarization voltage data. Extrapolating from existing FRB surveys, we expect roughly 10⁴ FRB detections per year in each of three search sub-bands. Combining across sub-bands, the survey could produce ∼ 10⁵ FRBs over the nominal 5-year DSA survey, assuming Euclidean source counts and a baseline compute backend that can search 6×10⁶ beams at 1 ms sampling. The well-characterized DSA synthesized beam and deep simultaneous reference images will enable localization precisions of ≲ 250 milliarcseconds. Key science cases include the use of FRB propagation effects in probing cosmic baryons, and studies of the FRB phenomenon using FRB host galaxies and their local environment, as well as multiwavelength counterparts.

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{connor2026dsachronoscope,
  title = {{The DSA/Chronoscope fast radio burst survey: forecasts and science overview}},
  author = {Liam Connor and Kaitlyn Shin and Vikram Ravi and Stella Koch Ocker and Casey J. Law and Kritti Sharma and Samuel McCarty and Gregg Hallinan and Shami Chatterjee and James M. Cordes and Dean Howarth and Fabian Walter and Elisabeth Krause and Vishnu Balakrishnan and Alexa C. Gordon and Calvin Leung and Shion Andrew},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = aug,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.30943},
  eprint = {2608.30943},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.30943},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - The DSA/Chronoscope fast radio burst survey: forecasts and science overview
AU  - Liam Connor
AU  - Kaitlyn Shin
AU  - Vikram Ravi
AU  - Stella Koch Ocker
AU  - Casey J. Law
AU  - Kritti Sharma
AU  - Samuel McCarty
AU  - Gregg Hallinan
AU  - Shami Chatterjee
AU  - James M. Cordes
AU  - Dean Howarth
AU  - Fabian Walter
AU  - Elisabeth Krause
AU  - Vishnu Balakrishnan
AU  - Alexa C. Gordon
AU  - Calvin Leung
AU  - Shion Andrew
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/31
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.30943
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.30943
AB  - Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are bright extragalactic transients with several mysteries surrounding their origins. Large FRB samples enable accurate measurements of the cosmic matter distribution, in particular on scales ≲ 10 Mpc. These measurements will impact cosmological inference and our understanding of astrophysical feedback, from the circumgalactic medium to cluster scales. Here we forecast the expected yields, redshifts, and host galaxies of FRBs as observed by the Deep Synoptic Array (DSA), and describe the key science cases enabled by the large FRB sample. The DSA will be an interferometer consisting of 1650×6.15 m antennas, operating between 0.7--2 GHz, to be located in Nevada, USA. The Chronoscope backend on the DSA, hereafter DSA/Chronoscope, is designed to search for FRBs across the field of view in real time, enabling the storage of full-polarization voltage data. Extrapolating from existing FRB surveys, we expect roughly 10^4 FRB detections per year in each of three search sub-bands. Combining across sub-bands, the survey could produce ∼ 10^5 FRBs over the nominal 5-year DSA survey, assuming Euclidean source counts and a baseline compute backend that can search 6×10^6 beams at 1 ms sampling. The well-characterized DSA synthesized beam and deep simultaneous reference images will enable localization precisions of ≲ 250 milliarcseconds. Key science cases include the use of FRB propagation effects in probing cosmic baryons, and studies of the FRB phenomenon using FRB host galaxies and their local environment, as well as multiwavelength counterparts.
ER  -

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