Abstract

Invited Talk - Plenary

Wednesday, 17 September 2025, 09:30   (Synagoge - Kuppelsaal / virtual plenum)

The DSA-2000 Radio Camera: Revolutionizing Access to the Radio Sky

Vikram Ravi
Caltech

The Deep Synoptic Array (DSA-2000) is designed to be a world-leading radio survey telescope and multi-messenger discovery engine in Nevada, observing in the L (0.7-2 GHz) band, with key surveys planned for 2028-2032. The survey speed of the DSA-2000 will be unmatched among current or planned radio telescopes. This has been enabled by a design highly optimized for surveys, and by two breakthrough technologies. The first is a low-cost antenna outfitted with ambient-temperature receivers and the second is a new generation of digital back-ends called a "radio camera”. We discuss the four central science themes addressed by the DSA-2000 — multi-messenger astronomy, our cosmic history, time domain astronomy, and the dark sector. Together with other ongoing all-sky surveys, the DSA-2000 will have a major impact on multi-messenger and time-domain astrophysics, and on the study of our cosmic history. It will deliver science-ready polarimetric, spectrally resolved image cubes, pulsar timing data, and carry out fast time-domain searches, all commensally with unprecedented survey speed.