frb-voe: A Real-time Virtual Observatory Event Alert Service for Fast Radio Bursts

Abstract We present frb-voe , a publicly available software package that enables radio observatories to broadcast fast radio burst (FRB) alerts to subscribers through low-latency virtual observatory events (VOEvents). We describe a use case of frb-voe by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment Fast Radio Burst (CHIME/FRB) Collaboration, which has broadcast thousands of FRB alerts to subscribers worldwide. Using this service, observers have daily opportunities to conduct rapid multiwavelength follow-up observations of new FRB sources. Alerts are distributed as machine-readable reports and as emails containing FRB metadata, and are available to the public within approximately 13 s of detection. A sortable database and a downloadable JSON file containing FRB metadata from all broadcast alerts can be found on CHIME/FRB’s public webpage. The frb-voe service also provides users with the ability to retrieve FRB names from the Transient Name Server through the frb-voe client user interface. The frb-voe service can act as a foundation on which any observatory that detects FRBs can build its own VOEvent broadcasting service to contribute to the coordinated multiwavelength follow-up of astrophysical transients.