1. FRB 121102 : Closing in on a Fast Radio Burst
Shami Chatterjee
Casey Law
Jason Hessels
Shriharsh Tendulkar
Sarah Burke-Spolaor
FRB : Closing in on a Fast Radio Burst

2. FRB 121102 : Closing in on a Fast Radio Burst
Speakers: Shami Chatterjee, Casey Law, Jason Hessels, Shriharsh Tendulkar, Sarah Burke-Spolaor. Other team members also at this meeting: Matthew Abruzzo (undergrad), Elizabeth Adams, Geoff Bower, James Cordes, Paul Demorest, Vicky Kaspi, Joseph Lazio, Scott Ransom, Andrew Seymour, Robert Wharton (grad student).

3. FRB 121102: What We Now Know, and What’s Next
Sarah Burke-Spolaor
NRAO/West Virginia University
FRB : What We Now Know, and What’s Next
Over the past decade FRBs have caught attention as a wonderful new astronomical mystery.
10 YEAR LONG JOURNEY… SUBSTANTIATED
THIS DETECTION has broken open a new stage of science and discovery using FRBs as tools.
Absolute magnitude of a star
M = – 2.5log(L/Lsun)
-17.0 / is abs mag of our galaxy

4. Major Steps Forward First proven distance.
Radio luminosity: bursts rival high-power active nuclei!
Technological milestone.
Radio image
Optical image
For the first time, we have seen how truly remote and bright the bursts from an FRB CAN BE.
When the bursts from this source flash, just for an instant they outshine all the stars in their host, and even rival the luminosity of some high-power AGN.
We have overcome a massive computational challenge.

5. FRB host Milky way (Not to scale)
ON THE BROADER STAGE, THE REASON FOR MORE EXCITEMENT:
PHENOMENON SO WELL-TUNED
I’M SHOWING…
Credits:
Milky way – NASA
Elliptical galaxy - hubble space telescope/STSci Backdrop – DSS
Everything else: S. Burke-Spolaor
(Not to scale)

6. Interact with electrons in plasma. Probe otherwise invisible matter.
Radio signals:
Interact with electrons in plasma.
Probe otherwise invisible matter.
Structure/content of “empty” space.
This is because…
Study OTHERWISE INVISIBLE matter.
Tell us what the universe is made up of and how that material is distributed.
If we can continue to identify more burst hosts, FRBs will allow us to uniquely explore distant host galaxies, and the space between galaxies.
FRB SCIENCE RELIES ON LOCALIZATION.
Credits
Milky way – NASA
Elliptical Galaxy - hubble space telescope/STSci Backdrop -- DSS
Everything else – S. Burke-Spolaor
Extreme physical processes
Find “missing matter”
Measure mass of light

7. Two key ingredients for our progress
Arecibo localization
For FRB121102…
Arcsecond localization: critical!
Deep-sky imaging: critical!
What was really striking…
Other FRBs NEED LOC’Zn
NOT NECESSARILY THE EQUISITE...

8. Radio Telescopes Seeking FRBs

9. Future Fast Radio Burst Searches
Localization
Time/Area on sky
Sensitivity
DISC VERY!
AND
Follow-up with sensitive optical telescopes: spectra and redshifts.
But we aim to balance these things
THERE IS NO MEGA-TELESCOPE. NO TELESCOPE HAS IT ALL.
SUITE OF TELESCOPES
Each one weighed against these components

10. Open Questions What makes this source burst?
Relation to persistent radio source?
Are all FRBs created equal?
Host galaxy
Persistent radio source
Burst source
frequency
Our new step in the FRB mystery has given rise to further mystery: this system still defies standard classification. But the persistent radio source’s colocation gives us important clues: points to a possible AGN, WHICH XXX or supernova remnant, which XXX
OBSERVATIONALLY, Two ways to answer this: find more repeaters, and localize more bursts.
IN CLOSING
ONLY BY Identifying more and numerous burst hosts, will we be able to identify FRB origins and use FRBs as the unique exploratory tools they naturally are.
time

11. FRB 121102 : Closing in on a Fast Radio Burst
Shami Chatterjee
Casey Law
Jason Hessels
Shriharsh Tendulkar
Sarah Burke-Spolaor
High-Res Artwork:
FRB : Closing in on a Fast Radio Burst