Casey Law deleted file sectionIntroduction_.tex  over 9 years ago

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\section{Introduction - Key Science Goals, Context, and The Fast/Slow Transient Split}  The paper will present an overview of the science, techniques, and   state-of-the-art of surveys for radio transients. The paper is  aimed to non-experts such as early graduate students who are interested  in working in the field, but will also provide detailed information  for researchers currently working in the field. Progress in the field  is rapid so there will be a heavy emphasis on long-term science goals and   technqiues. I will discuss important developing topics such as   fast radio bursts, where there is still considerable uncertainty about  the significance of current discoveries.  The science and techniques of radio transient surveys are divided into   domains: fast and slow. The dividing line is a characteristic time scale  of 1 second. On short time scales, coherent emission processes such as   the pulsar mechanism dominate. On longer time scales, incoherent synchrotron  processes dominate. Technically, slow transient searches are in the  domain of interferometric imaging. Fast transient searches have been  traditionally the domain of high bandwidth single dish timing.  Interferometric techniques, however, are becoming more important for   fast transient searches. The next generation of large telescopes are   primarily large-N interferometers. As these new telescopes are   commissioned, interferometric techniques must be expoited in order  for fast transient searches to advance scientifically.  The science of radio transients has primarily been driven by follow-up  of optical and high energy events such as gamma-ray bursts and supernovae.  Surveys have the opportunity to discover new classes of transient   that are not known or predicted by multi-wavelength information.   Serendipitous discovery has demonstrated that radio transient surveys  can be critical for discovery of dust-obscured objects and coherent  emitters that would not have been otherwise discovered.  There is the potential for new radio transient surveys to flip the  dominant paradigm in which radio discovery leads to optical and high energy  follow-up.  The paper is timely because of the launch of major surveys with the  Very Large Array and LOFAR and the planned launch of surveys with   ASKAP and MeerKAT. Pre-cursor surveys with the VLA, the Allen Telescope  Array, Parkes, Arecibo, and the GBT provide an important foundation  for planning. The coming of Advanced LIGO GW interferometer results   at the end of the decade will heighten interest in disovery of radio  transient counterparts to GW events.