Fast Radio Bursts, An Astronomical Mystery |
| TYPE | Colloquium |
| Speaker: | Prof. Peter Goldreich |
| Affiliation: | Caltech, IAS |
| Date: | 17.03.2014 |
| Time: | 14:30 - 16:30 |
| Location: | Lidow Rosen Auditorium (323) |
| Abstract: | Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are strong, isolated, broad band, radio pulses each lasting a few milliseconds. Their all-sky rates are estimated to be 104 per day. Arrival times of individual pulses exhibit delays precisely proportional to inverse frequency squared as is typical for radio wave propagation through a cold plasma. This is strong evidence for their astronomical origin. For most bursts, the deduced column density of plasma greatly exceeds that which our galaxy could provide. An obvious inference is that the bursts originate at cosmological distances and that the plasma column density accumulates in the intervening intergalactic medium. After summarizing the observed properties of FRBs, I will discuss attempts to characterize their sources. Are they natural or of intelligent design? |