Speaker
Dr
Jason Hessels
(University of Amsterdam & ASTRON)
Description
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration radio
flashes, apparently originating at cosmological distances. As such,
FRBs promise to provide a new view of extreme astrophysics in action -
with, e.g., potential insights into the deaths of massive stars,
particle acceleration, and the properties of the intergalactic medium.
While some FRBs may be associated with cataclysmic astrophysical
explosions, there are also repeating FRBs, like FRB 121102, whose
origin requires a more long-lived progenitor. FRB 121102 has been
localized to an intense star-forming region in a dwarf galaxy at
redshift z = 0.19. It is also associated with a persistent radio
source and inhabits an environment of extreme magnetic field. The
short durations of the bursts themselves argue that a neutron star is
the likely source, but understanding how such a source can be visible
at about 3 billion light years distance remains a puzzle. Perhaps FRB
121102 has a very different origin, and even its relation to the
apparently non-repeating FRB population is still unclear. Here I will
present an overview of the FRB phenomenon, focusing on the
observational facts to date, and my own work on FRB 121102.
Primary author
Dr
Jason Hessels
(University of Amsterdam & ASTRON)
