Abstract Details

Name: Shriharsh Tendulkar
Affiliation: McGill University
Conference ID: ASI2020_101
Title : Probing the Fast Radio Burst Population
Authors and Co-Authors : Shriharsh P. Tendulkar on behalf of the CHIME/FRB Collaboration
Abstract Type : Invited
Abstract Category : Plenary
Abstract : Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are a new class of millisecond radio transients that seem to arise from cosmological distances, making them at least a trillion times more luminous than radio pulsars. The propagation of FRBs through the intergalactic medium makes them promising probes of the electron and magnetic field distributions in the Universe. The mechanisms that produce FRB signals are unknown and the subject of active debate. Distinguishing between these models, requires a careful understanding of the population, characteristics, and environments of FRBs. The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) with its FRB-searching backend, is uniquely powerful due to its high sensitivity and a large 250 sq. deg. field-of-view. In the past year of operations, CHIME/FRB has discovered more than few hundred new FRBs, including 9 new repeating FRB sources, with a wide distribution of properties. I shall describe the new science learned from these results and the directions for future work.