Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are brief, coherent radio flashes of extragalactic origin, lasting from microseconds to milliseconds and carrying large energies. Their signals are shaped as they travel through space: free electrons along the line of sight disperse the pulse (described by dispersion measure, DM), scattering can broaden the burst, and polarization changes through Faraday rotation. These effects make FRBs useful for studying cosmic matter and fields, including the distribution of baryons, the Universe’s expansion, and magnetism on large scales. The papers also stress that the astrophysical source of FRBs remains unresolved. Magnetars—highly magnetized neutron stars—are a leading explanation, but other progenitors are possible, including magnetically interacting neutron-star binaries or accreting black holes. The diversity of observed FRB properties and their environments suggests multiple mechanisms may contribute. Both articles outline how the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) would advance FRB science. With its sensitivity, southern-sky overlap with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, rapid search capability down to tens of microseconds, and broad frequency coverage from about 50 MHz to 15 GHz, the SKA is expected to detect FRBs across new timescales and frequency ranges and use them to constrain cosmological parameters and aspects of fundamental physics.
SKA studies fast radio bursts to probe their origins and cosmology
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are brief, coherent radio flashes of extragalactic origin, lasting from microseconds to milliseconds and carrying large energies. Their signals are shaped as they travel throu...
- FRBs are extragalactic, coherent radio pulses lasting microseconds to milliseconds.
- FRB signals show dispersion (DM) and scattering from free electrons, and polarization changes via Faraday rotation.
- The FRB source mechanism is not fully known; magnetars are a leading candidate, with other progenitors also possible.
- The papers emphasize that FRBs can probe cosmology, including baryon distribution and the Universe’s expansion, and can test fundamental physics using accumulated propagation effects.
- The SKA’s sensitivity, fast search capability (tens of microseconds), and wide frequency range (about 50 MHz to 15 GHz) are central to advancing FRB observations and related forecasts.
arXiv:2606.27546v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Fast radio bursts (FRBs) provide a glimpse of high-energy astrophysical phenomena in other galaxies. They point the way to extreme conditions that are currently undetectable by any other known means. These coherent radio flashes have timescales of microseconds to milliseconds, and inferred energies that are comparable to those of the most extreme bursts seen from Galactic neutron stars. However, the nature of FRB sources remains an open question in astrophysics. Magnetically powered neutron stars known as `magnetars' are a leading candidate for explaining the FRB phenomenon, but other plausible progenitors include magnetically interacting neutron-star binaries or accreting black holes. The diversity of FRB burst types and their galactic environments hint that multiple mechanisms and progenitor types may be responsible. Here we discuss the ways in which the SKA can uncover the nature of FRBs. In particular, we focus on the key advantages of the SKA: its Southern Hemisphere location and hence overlapping sky coverage with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, its high sensitivity compared to existing wide-field FRB surveys, its fast search timescales down to tens of $\mu$s, and its broad spectral coverage with bands from 50 MHz to 15 GHz. With these capabilities, the SKA will excel in detecting FRB sources across new frequency ranges and timescales. This will aid in a better understanding of the fundamental astrophysics behind FRBs, which will in turn also contribute to their use as cosmological probes, as explored in companion chapters.
2 hours agoarXiv:2606.27714v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are brief, coherent radio pulses of extragalactic origin. They typically last from microseconds to milliseconds and have energies large enough to be visible over cosmological distances. Since FRBs interact with free electrons along their paths, the original burst is dispersed (Dispersion Measure, DM) and broadened (scattering). Furthermore, the burst's polarization is altered by Faraday rotation. Consequently, FRBs are excellent probes of the cosmological distribution of baryons, the expansion of the Universe, magnetic fields, and minuscule effects of fundamental physics that accumulate over vast distances. This chapter is the second of a trilogy of FRB chapters and discusses FRBs as a standalone probe. We first introduce the foundation of FRB observables related to those questions. Next, we lay the groundwork for forecasting SKA's potential by describing the method to simulate the expected FRB population observable with the SKA. These synthetic FRB catalogues are then used to investigate the SKA's potential to probe the Universe's expansion rate and fundamental physics, such as the equivalence principle and the existence of massive photons. Furthermore, we investigate the possibility of tracing cosmic magnetic fields and investigating different dark matter candidates.
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