Astrophysics Webinar

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are energetic millisecond duration pulses, located at cosmological distances, whose physical origin is still debated after a decade since their discovery. The detection of a Galactic FRB in April 2020 suggested that at least some FRBs can originate from magnetars. Characterizing FRB source population will help optimize future search strategies and provide valuable insights regarding progenitor models as well as the source environment. In this talk, I will first describe a generalized framework that we utilize to constrain properties of the FRB source and host galaxy directly from multi-band radio observations. Next, I will discuss the mechanism for production of coherent radio bursts that are likely accompanied by persistent radio emission originating from the magnetar wind nebula. These late-time radio emission have been detected for at least three localized repeating sources and provide direct constraints on the NS age and energy density of the environment. Lastly, I will discuss how cosmological FRBs can be used as potential probes to investigate He reionization history and can help reveal energetic processes in the early Universe.