Arecibo pulsar and transient surveys using ALFA

A large scale survey for pulsars and transients is being conducted at the Arecibo Observatory using the Arecibo L-band Feed Array (ALFA). Data acquisition so far has been with correlation spectrometers that analyze a 0.1 GHz bandwidth at 1.4 GHz. The 256 frequency channels limit dispersion smearing to 1.2 ms at DMmax = 10(3) pc cm(-3) while the sampling interval of 64 mu s equals the dispersion smearing at DM similar to 54 pc cm(-3), providing high sensitivity to millisecond pulsars with standard periods out to implied distances of several kpc at low Galactic latitudes. In early 2008, we will use a new set of polyphase filter bank systems that provide the same time and frequency resolutions but over ALFA's full 0.3 GHz bandwidth. Currently the survey covers sky positions within 5 degrees of the Galactic plane that are reachable with Arecibo. Preliminary results are given for some of the discoveries made so far, which include millisecond pulsars, a relativistic binary pulsar, a likely counterpart of a Compton GRO/ EGRET gamma-ray source, and transient pulsars (including 'RRATs"). We discuss the methodology of the survey, which includes archival of raw survey data at the Cornell Center for Advanced Computing and processing at distributed sites. The survey and follow up observations, which include timing observations, multiwavelength searches for orbital companions in the case of binary pulsars, etc. are organized through the Pulsar-ALFA (PALFA) Consortium. We expect the Galactic plane survey to continue until at least 2010, most likely involving multiple passes on each sky position to optimize detection of variable sources. The ALFA system will also be used to survey intermediate Galactic latitudes for millisecond pulsars, relativistic binaries with large systemic velocities, and runaway pulsars that will escape the Galaxy.