Fundamental astrophysics with fast radio bursts.

Dr Ryan Shannon (CSIRO and ICRAR). © Wheeler Studios

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are intense pulses of radio emission that originate in distant galaxies. They are now delivering on their promise as tools to understand extreme physical processes and environments, and as powerful probes of the diffuse cosmic web of baryons, nearly impossible to study otherwise. It is of particular importance to pinpoint FRBs to host galaxies. 

In this presentation I will discuss what we have learned about FRBs from studies of their host galaxies, and how we have used these localised FRBs to study the structure of the Universe. I will also show how we can use novel wide bandwidth observations to explain the extreme apparent luminosity of FRB emission. I will then highlight some of the challenges that will be faced as larger samples of FRBs are localised at larger distances. I will conclude by motivating a wide field local Universe FRB instrument concept that can answer the outstanding questions in FRB research.