Astronomy and Astrophysics Seminars

Probing the Fast Radio Transient Universe

by Dr. Sriharsh Tendulkar (McGill University, Canada)

Thursday, October 17, 2019 from to (Asia/Kolkata)
at DAA SEMINAR ( A269 )
TIFR
Description
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. I will describe my work in building the FRB searching backend for the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME), a uniquely powerful monitor of FRBs due to its high sensitivity and a large 250 sq. deg. field-of-view, as well as the science results and follow up programs for multiwavelength counterparts that I lead. In almost an year of operations, CHIME/FRB has discovered more than few hundred new FRBs, including 9 new repeating FRB sources. I will discuss my outlook for the future of the FRB field and my plans for localizing and studying FRBs using the uGMRT, the Ooty Wide Field array and TIFR-built instruments as well as by continuing collaboration with CHIME/FRB. I will end with a discussion of the prospects for finding fast transients in as-yet unexplored wavebands.