MEERTRAP: Finding fast radio transients on the fly

In the era of multi-messenger astrophysics with new types of transients (fast radio transients or gravitational wave events), real-time detection of transients and rapid multiwavelength follow-up is crucial. MeerTRAP is one such instrument that has been deployed on the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa to search for fast radio bursts (FRBs) [1]. The commensal nature of the project means that MeerTRAP will keep looking for transients even if the telescope is not being used specifically for that purpose. Using a compute cluster with state-of-the-art CPUs and GPUs, MeerTRAP constantly searches the entire Field of View of MeerKAT for fast radio bursts and single pulses from new pulsars or Rotating Radio Transients (RRATs) across different radio frequencies, ultimately from 500 MHz all the way to 3.5 GHz. This gives MeerTRAP a unique combination of sensitivity and field-of-view to discover new FRBs and RRATs. The ability of MeerTRAP to rapidly localize the transient and optical co-pointing with the Meer-LICHT telescope gives the instrument an edge in finding and identifying the nature of potential transients on short timescales. Moreover, MeerTRAP is part of large collaborations whose primary goal is to discover and follow-up any transient event with a slew of telescopes spanning the whole electro-magnetic spectrum.