(Proposal ID) S15B-009

(PI) Totani, Tomonori

(Proposal Title)
Follow-up of Fast Radio Bursts to Discover Other-Wavelength Counterparts

(Abstract)
Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are a mysterious transient phenomenon whose duration 
is only a few msec. No repeating events or counterparts in other wavelengths 
have been detected, but their dispersion measures imply that they are located 
at cosmological distances of z~0.5-1. We propose HSC/Suprime-Cam follow up of 
FRBs to find the first ever counterpart at other wavelengths, by using the 
unique imaging capability of Subaru to cover the entire FRB error regions 
(~14 arcmin diameter FWHM) with 8m-class sensitivity. We have set up the 
collaboration with two FRB search teams using the Parkes radio observatory, 
and expect 3-9 FRB events in the S15B semester. Some proposed FRB scenarios 
predict detectable optical counterparts on time scales from days to months, 
and we will search optical transients on various time scales depending on the 
telescope schedule at the time of a FRB alert.  We also request to use 
optical/NIR spectroscopic/imaging instruments of Subaru for follow-up of 
particularly interesting events found by other observatories or our HSC/S-Cam 
observations. A determination of the first FRB redshift would be a major 
breakthrough.