SPOTLIGHT, an unprecedented probe for dynamic radio sky with the GMRT

Time-domain astronomy is a rapidly growing field of research. Two important classes of such transient sources are pulsars and Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs). The pulsars are rapidly rotating strongly magnetized neutron stars that can be used as extremely precise celestial clocks and allow one to probe the most extreme states of matter and gravity. Whereas FRBs are extremely bright ~millisecond duration events that are detectable at cosmological distances and are the probes of highly energetic, and possibly cataclysmic events, providing a unique opportunity to study the ionized intergalactic medium (IGM).  

The uGMRT is one of the very few interferometric arrays equipped to provide simultaneous detection and arc-sec localization of such fast transient sources over a wide radio spectrum. However, to enhance the discovery potential, a system like uGMRT needs to be equipped with a real-time commensal time-domain survey instrument. The SPOTLIGHT (https://spotlight.ncra.tifr.res.in/) project funded by the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) enables such commensal observations with the GMRT aiming to discover a few hundred FRBs with host galaxy association as well as several hundreds of pulsars over the next few years of scientific operation. This will have a very high scientific impact since localisation is critical for using these bursts as cosmological probes while probing the "missing" matters in the IGM. The hundreds of such localised FRBs from the SPOTLIGHT will enable transformational, high-impact science in time-domain astronomy with the GMRT to start a new era of FRB cosmology as well as mapping the large-scale magnetic field of the Universe. While highlighting the expected scientific deliverables from the SPOTLIGHT, I will also describe the rich resources of astronomical data at unprecedented sensitivity from the survey that leads to cutting-edge developments in the field of HPC and AI.