(Proposal ID) S17A-015

(PI) Totani, Tomonori

(Proposal Title)
Subaru Follow-up of Fast Radio Bursts

(Abstract)
Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are a mysterious transient phenomenon whose duration 
is only a few msec. Their dispersion measures imply that they are located at 
cosmological distances of z ~ 0.5-1, implying exciting possibilities of using 
them as a new cosmological probe. Here we propose to continue Subaru follow-up 
for FRBs to firmly establish their cosmological origin and reveal the 
progenitors. The unique wide-field imaging capability of Subaru to cover the 
entire FRB error regions (~ arcmin diameter FWHM) with 8m-class sensitivity is 
especially powerful. This has indeed been proven by our Subaru follow-up 
observations for FRB 150418. We continue the collaboration with the FRB search 
team using the Parkes radio observatory, and expect several FRB events in the 
S17A 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 any of optical/NIR spectroscopic/
imaging instruments of Subaru for follow-up of particularly interesting events 
found by other observatories or our own HSC/Suprime-Cam observations.