Description:

Title: The Deepening Mystery of Fast Radio Bursts

Speaker: Shami Chatterjee,  Cornell University

Host: Deanne Coppejans

Abstract: Fast radio bursts, dispersed millisecond flashes of radio waves originating from beyond the Milky Way, are an enigmatic phenomenon, with more competing models to describe them than there are burst detections. With the recent localization of the repeating FRB 121102 and the measurement of a redshift z = 0.193 for its host galaxy, we have confirmed the cosmological origin of FRBs. The precise localization of a repeating FRB source has also enabled observations over a broad spectral range, revealing intriguing new clues about the central engine. The detection of a rotation measure exceeding 100,000 rad/m^2 reveals its extreme magneto-ionic environment, and dramatic structure in the burst dynamic spectra point to the role of propagation effects in the intergalactic and interstellar media. Understanding the central engine of FRBs as a class and unlocking their future use as cosmological probes will require a larger sample of FRBs, the discovery of other repeating sources, and the identification of more host galaxies.

Keywords: Physics, Astronomy, Astrophysics