LAM seminar: Daniele Michilli – Fast radio bursts: what they are, why we care

I recently joined LAM with a project to detect fast radio bursts (FRBs) and use them to study the cosmos. In this talk, I will give an overview of the field of FRBs: what we know, where we stand, and what is about to happen. FRBs are flashes of radio waves visible from distant galaxies whose origin is obscure. However, they can be used as unprecedented tools to study the Universe thanks to their unique combination of short duration, high luminosity, and low frequencies. For example, they can be used to probe the interstellar medium, gather information on galaxy feedback processes, measure magnetic fields of other galaxies, and constrain the Hubble constant. In this regard, FRBs that are gravitationally lensed by intervening galaxies are a particularly interesting category yet to be explored. This is an exciting time for FRB science as new instruments promise to revolutionize the field, and I will discuss some of the most interesting prospects for the coming years.