The MeerKAT Max-Planck S-band System

The science potential of MeerKAT is enormous. In order to complement existing instrumentation and with the aim to help exploiting the new instrument in an optimal way, the MPIfR is providing a complete receiving system at "S-band", i.e. 1.75-3.50 GHz.. The Max-Plank S-Band System (MP-SbS) will especially enable science that falls into the core interests of the MPIfR. These include fundamental physics with tests of theories of gravity and gravitational wave detection, the exploration of the dynamic radio sky (e.g. by detecting fast cosmological radio bursts), highly sensitive molecular spectroscopy of the interstellar medium, polarisation continuum studies, and high-resolution imaging of radio sources using very-long-baseline-interferometry (VLBI). In addition to providing the frontend, the MP-SbS includes a state-of-the-art digital backend system that consists of a beamformer, a storage facility and a powerful compute cluster that allows turning MeerKAT into a discovery machine for pulsars and other time-domain phenomena. The system will be designed and constructed by the MPIfR in close collaboration with colleagues from the Universities of Manchester and Oxford. A major important contribution comes from the ERC Advanced Grant project MeerTRAP (PI Stappers) that will allow to double the initially planned beam former capabilities to 400 beams, although the final implementation may allow many more beams than that. Descriptions of MeerTRAP and the related MeerKAT projects TRAPUM and MeerTime can be found elsewhere in these proceedings