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

Liam Connor; Kaitlyn Shin; Vikram Ravi; Stella Koch Ocker; Casey J. Law; Kritti Sharma; Samuel McCarty; Gregg Hallinan; Shami Chatterjee; James M. Cordes; Dean Howarth; Fabian Walter; Elisabeth Krause; Vishnu Balakrishnan; Alexa C. Gordon; Calvin Leung; Shion Andrew

arXiv · 2608.30943

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

Liam Connor·Kaitlyn Shin·Vikram Ravi·Stella Koch Ocker·Casey J. Law·Kritti Sharma·Samuel McCarty·Gregg Hallinan·Shami Chatterjee·James M. Cordes·Dean Howarth·Fabian Walter·Elisabeth Krause·Vishnu Balakrishnan·Alexa C. Gordon·Calvin Leung·Shion Andrew

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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 $\lesssim 10$ 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$\times$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 $\sim$ 10$^5$ FRBs over the nominal 5-year DSA survey, assuming Euclidean source counts and a baseline compute backend that can search $6\times10^6$ beams at 1 ms sampling. The well-characterized DSA synthesized beam and deep simultaneous reference images will enable localization precisions of $\lesssim$ 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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Liam Connor, Kaitlyn Shin, Vikram Ravi, Stella Koch Ocker, Casey J. Law, Kritti Sharma, Samuel McCarty, Gregg Hallinan, Shami Chatterjee, James M. Cordes, Dean Howarth, Fabian Walter, Elisabeth Krause, Vishnu Balakrishnan, Alexa C. Gordon, Calvin Leung, Shion Andrew. 2026-08-31. The DSA/Chronoscope fast radio burst survey: forecasts and science overview. https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.30943

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