Inspired by the Arecibo telescope, a technical and scientific wonder of the 20th century, the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) was originally proposed as part of a SKA concept. Since its inception of normal operation in 2020, FAST data have resulted in more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, including four on the Nature magazine and one on Nature Astronomy. Such productivity evinces the unparalleled sensitivity of FAST as well as the originality of a series of experimental techniques such as the high-cadence CAL, which enables the Commensal Radio Astronomy FasT Survey (CRAFTS). CRAFTS realizes the world’s first commensal survey of pulsars, HI imaging, HI galaxies, and fast radio bursts (FRBs). Through CRAFTS, we have so far discovered more than 150 pulsars, including one double-neutron-star system (DNS), and 6 new high DM (>1000 pc cm-3) fast radio bursts (FRBs), including one new repeater. The HI images and galaxies from CRAFTS are close to publication quality. I will introduce a few highlights from CRAFTS as well as PI programs, including the first successful HI narrow self-absorption (HINSA) Zeeman detection, which was featured on the cover of Nature, the first detection of the characteristic energy for a FRB source, etc. CRAFTS, along with a slew of major survey programs at FAST, poise to extend the legacy of Arecibo.
BIO
Dr. Di Li got his PhD from Cornell University in 2002. He was an astronomer in Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics during 2002-2005, a National Research Council Fellow during 2005-2006 and a Research Scientist during 2007-2011 both in Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology. He joined in National Astronomical Observatories of China in 2012.
Dr. Li, a radio astronomer, is the Chief Scientist of FAST and the radio division of NAOC. He pioneered several observing and data analysis techniques, including HI narrow self-absorption (HINSA) and a new inversion algorithm for solving the dust temperature distribution. These techniques facilitated important measurements of star forming regions, such as their formation time scale, interstellar magnetic field, etc. Dr. Li has led multiple discoveries, including the first detection of interstellar molecular oxygen, FAST’s first new pulsar, FAST’s first new Fast Radio Burst (FRB), and the largest FRB pulse set ever published. He served on the Steering Committee of Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF), the “Cradle of Life” science working group of the Square Kilometer Array, and the advisory panel of the Breakthrough Listen initiative.
Host: Hua Feng
