Supporting Multi-messenger Astrophysics with Fast Gamma-ray Burst Localization

Abstract

Multi-messenger astrophysics is amongst the most promising approaches to astronomical observations. A significant challenge, however, is the fact that many instruments have a narrow field of view, so transient events are often missed by these instruments. The Advanced Particle-astrophysics Telescope, currently under development, promises to provide low-latency detection and localization for an important class of astronomical events, thereby enabling the full observational capabilities of narrow field-of-view instruments to be brought to bear. We examine the computational pipeline for detection and localization of Compton events utilizing computational accelerators, both FPGAs and GPUs.