“SKA建设准备阶段关键问题研究”项目立项报告

该报告在SKA科学目标预研究、天线研究、宽频带大视场接收机系统研究等方面,设立相应研究,针对性地开展相关的射电天文前沿科学和高技术研究。在SKA科学目标与研究方面,主要围绕宇宙再电离、暗能量与暗物质本质、河外射电源、SKA核心数据处理技术等课题开展预研究,同时组织国内射电天文界的相关力量,逐步凝练并形成中国SKA早期科学目标,并在此过程中,逐步发展国内的SKA科学研究团队。同时,将实施中国SKA人才培养计划,为我国未来SKA科学研究进行人才储备建设。在天线阵列研究方面,开展高频段口径15 m天线的天线理论、机械结构、馈电系统,以及大批量、低成本、高可靠性的天线研制技术研究。在宽频带大视场接收机技术方面,开展SKA先进仪器计划中的宽频带单波束接收机和相位阵技术研究,为SKA和国内大口径射电望远镜做相应技术储备。该项目拟基于大学、研究所和工业界现有研究队伍,以产学研合作的方式,培养、发展和壮大我国参与SKA未来建设和科学运行团队。

Lossless Compression of SKA Data Sets

With the size of astronomical data archives continuing to increase at an enormous rate, the providers and end users of astronomical data sets will benefit from effective data compression techniques. This paper explores different lossless data compression techniques and aims to find an optimal compression algorithm to compress astronomical data obtained by the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), which are new and unique in the field of radio astronomy. It was required that the compressed data sets should be lossless and that they should be compressed while the data are being read. The project was carried out in conjunction with the SKA South Africa office. Data compression reduces the time taken and the bandwidth used when transferring files, and it can also reduce the costs involved with data storage. The SKA uses the Hierarchical Data Format (HDF5) to store the data collected from the radio telescopes, with the data used in this study ranging from 29 MB to 9 GB in size. The compression techniques investigated in this study include SZIP, GZIP, the LZF filter, LZ4 and the Fully Adaptive Prediction Error Coder (FAPEC). The algorithms and methods used to perform the compression tests are discussed and the results from the three phases of testing are presented, followed by a brief discussion on those results.

Dish Verification Antenna China for the SKA:design, verification and status

The Square Kilometre Array(SKA) will be the world’s largest synthesis radio telescope, which is designed to answer major scientific questions such as those relating to the cosmic origin and fundamental forces in the universe. With the SKA entering into the phase of pre-construction, more than 100 institutes in about 20 countries including China have been involved in the associated key technology development.The Dish Verification Antenna China(DVA-C) is a concept prototype which has been built to meet the requirements of the SKA’s scientific goals. It utilizes a unique skin-and-rib structure with single-piece panel reflectors. This paper presents details on the design and measured performances of DVA-C, as well as the preliminary observational results. Current applications of the DVA-C are also introduced.

中国SKA区域中心跨洲际高速数据传输进展及展望

平方公里阵列(Square Kilometre Array, SKA)作为最大的射电望远镜,其观测产生的数据将首先由澳大利亚和南非两个台址传输到几百公里以外的科学数据处理中心,然后通过跨洲际高速互联网分发到上万公里距离的全球各个SKA区域中心(SKA Regional Centre, SRC).在SKA第一阶段,每年预计有710 PB的数据需要通过至少100 Gbps的网络分发到各个SRC,如此高的网络带宽和数据规模对数据的传输与分发带来极大挑战.本文通过对TCP/UDP/HTTP等多种网络协议的分析,使用当前射电天文领域不同的软件测试研究了当前10 Gbps网络基础设施下的最佳传输方案参数,讨论了影响高速传输的因素,提出了相应的性能优化策略.这将为中国在SKA第一阶段正式观测前的网络建设和布局提供技术基础,也是未来SKA区域中心全球联网运行的技术积累.本文所描述的技术细节和方法对依赖大数据量跨国际节点交互的相关科学应用至关重要.

Fiber-based multiple-access frequency synchronization via 1f–2f dissemination

Considering the reference frequency dissemination requirements of the Square Kilometre Array telescope（SKA）project,on the basis of the 1f–2f precision frequency synchronization scheme,we propose and demonstrate a fiber-based multiple-access frequency synchronization scheme.The dissemination reference frequency can be recovered at arbitrary nodes along the entire fiber link.It can be applied to antennas close proximity to the SKA central station,and will lead to a better SKA frequency synchronization network.As a performance test,we recover the disseminated 100-MHz reference frequency at an arbitrary node chosen as being 5 km away from the transmitting site.Relative frequency stabilities of2.0×10^（-14）/s and 1.6×10^（-16）/10~4 s are obtained.We also experimentally verify the feasibility of a frequency dissemination link with three access points.

Cosmology with fast radio bursts in the era of SKA

We present a forecast of the cosmological parameter estimation using fast radio bursts(FRBs)from the upcoming Square Kilometre Array(SKA),focusing on the issues of dark energy,the Hubble constant,and baryon density.We simulate 105and 106localized FRBs from a 10-year SKA observation,and find that:(1)using 106FRB data alone can tightly constrain dark-energy equation of state parameters better than CMB+BAO+SNe,providing an independent cosmological probe to explore dark energy;(2)combining the FRB data with gravitational-wave standard siren data from 10-year observation with the Einstein Telescope,the Hubble constant can be constrained to a sub-percent level,serving as a powerful low-redshift probe;(3)using 106FRB data can constrain the baryon density?bh to a precision of~0.1%.Our results indicate that SKA-era FRBs will provide precise cosmological measurements to shed light on both dark energy and the missing baryon problem,and help resolve the Hubble tension.

SKA大数据的科学应用和挑战

即将开建的平方公里阵列(SKA)射电望远镜是最大的天文观测装置,有望在宇宙起源、生命起源、宇宙磁场起源、引力本质、地外文明等自然科学重大前沿问题上取得革命性的突破。SKA的超级灵敏度、超大视场、超快巡天速度和超高时间、空间、频率分辨率等技术特点确保了SKA在观测能力上的领先地位,由此也产生了海量观测数据。SKA的数据运输、存储、读写、运算、管理、归档、发布对信息和计算机领域的前沿技术均提出了严峻的考验。中国SKA科学团队将协同信息产业界一道应对SKA大数据的挑战,不仅推动产生重大原创性科学发现,其技术成果也将应用于国民经济建设。

SKA低频成像系统在中国SKA区域中心的部署

平方公里阵列(Square Kilometre Array, SKA)将成为世界上最大的综合孔径射电望远镜.凭借其高分辨率、超高灵敏度和超快巡天速度, SKA能以前所未有的细节探索宇宙.连续谱巡天是SKA的几个主要观测模式之一,为理解和认识射电天空奠定基础. SKA探路者设备已经运行了几年,积累了丰富的巡天观测数据.中国天文学家正在为中国SKA区域中心(China SKA Regional Centre, CSRC)的建设进行积极的准备,已经完成了原型机.本文详细介绍了在CSRC原型机中部署SKA低频数据处理系统的进展.默奇森宽场阵列(Murchison Wide-field Array, MWA)是SKA低频阵列的先导项目.我们使用MWA的观测数据来验证成像管线系统的部署并测试其正确性. CSRC原型机的数据处理结果与已发表的结果一致,表明在CSRC原型机上部署开发的并行数据处理系统取得了巨大成功.而且,该原型机的灵活适配性和可扩展性使其可以轻松扩展,支持未来SKA第一阶段试运行期间的大规模连续谱成像实验.这些经验将有助于改善成像管线系统,并有助于完善CSRC.

Science opportunities and challenges associated with SKA big data

The upcoming Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope will become the largest astronomical observation facility,and is expected to introduce revolutionary changes in major fields of natural sciences.These revolutionary changes help us to answer the fundamental questions related to the origins of the universe,life,cosmic magnetic field,the nature of gravity,and to search for extraterrestrial civilizations [1].

Status and progress of China SKA Regional Centre prototype

The Square Kilometre Array(SKA)project consists of delivering two largest radio telescope arrays being built by the SKA Observatory(SKAO),which is an intergovernmental organization bringing together nations from around the world with China being one of the major member countries.The computing resources needed to process,distribute,curate and use the vast amount of data that will be generated by the SKA telescopes are too large for the SKAO to manage on its own.To address this challenge,the SKAO is working with the international community to create a shared,distributed data,computing and networking capability called the SKA Regional Centre Alliance.In this model,the SKAO will be supported by a global network of SKA Regional Centres(SRCs)distributed around the world in its member countries to build an end-to-end science data system that will provide astronomers with high-quality science products.SRCs undertake deep processing,scientific analysis,and long-term storage of the SKA data,as well as user support.China has been actively participating in and promoting the construction of SRCs.This paper introduces the international cooperation and ongoing prototyping of the global SRC network,the basis for the construction of the China SRC and describes in detail the progress of the China SRC prototype.The paper also presents examples of scientific applications of SKA precursor and pathfinder telescopes performed using resources from the China SRC prototype.Finally,the future prospects of the China SRC are presented.

Forecast for weighing neutrinos in cosmology with SKA

We investigate what role the SKA neutral hydrogen(HI)intensity mapping(IM)and galaxy sky surveys will play in weighing neutrinos in cosmology.We use the simulated data of the baryon acoustic oscillation(BAO)measurements from the HI surveys based on SKA1(IM)and SKA2(galaxy)to do the analysis.For the current observations,we use the Planck 2015 cosmic microwave background(CMB)anisotropies observation,the optical BAO measurements,the type Ia supernovae(SN)observation(Pantheon compilation),and the latest H0 measurement.We consider three mass ordering cases for massive neutrinos,i.e.,the normal hierarchy(NH),inverted hierarchy(IH),and degenerate hierarchy(DH)cases.It is found that the SKA observation can significantly improve the constraints on?m and H0.Compared to the current observation,the SKA1 data can improve the constraints on?m by about 33%,and on H0 by about 36%;the SKA2 data can improve the constraints on?m by about 58%,and on H0 by about 66%.It is also found that the SKA observation can only slightly improve the constraints on∑mν.Compared to the current observation,the SKA1 data can improve the constraints on∑mνby about 4%,3%,and 10%,for the NH,IH,and DH cases,respectively;the SKA2 data can improve the constraints on∑mνby about 7%,7%,and 16%,for the NH,IH,and DH cases,respectively.

Parallel implementation of w-projection wide-field imaging

w-Projection is a wide-field imaging technique that is widely used in radio synthesis arrays. Processing the wide-field big data generated by the future Square Kilometre Array(SKA) will require significant updates to current methods to significantly reduce the time consumed on data processing. Data loading and gridding are found to be two major time-consuming tasks in w-projection. In this paper, we investigate two parallel methods of accelerating w-projection processing on multiple nodes: the hybrid Message Passing Interface(MPI) and Open Multi-Processing(OpenMP) method based on multicore Central Processing Units(CPUs) and the hybrid MPI and Compute Unified Device Architecture(CUDA)method based on Graphics Processing Units(GPUs). Both methods are successfully employed and operated in various computational environments, confirming their robustness. The experimental results show that the total runtime of both MPI + OpenMP and MPI + CUDA methods is significantly shorter than that of single-thread processing. MPI + CUDA generally shows faster performance when running on multiple nodes than MPI + OpenMP, especially on large numbers of nodes. The single-precision GPU-based processing yields faster computation than the double-precision processing; while the single-and doubleprecision CPU-based processing shows consistent computational performance. The gridding time remarkably increases when the support size of the convolution kernel is larger than 8 and the image size is larger than 2,048 pixels. The present research offers useful guidance for developing SKA imaging pipelines.