Speaker
Dr
Albert Stebbins
(Fermilab)
Description
The past few months has brought the announcement of the discovery of 4 more Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) bringing the total number of these enigmatic events to 6. These bursts of GHz radio waves last only a few milliseconds, are non-repeating, and several pieces evidence point to them originating at cosmological distances. If so ~10^40 ergs of GHz radio waves are emitted in a few msec from a region of size less than 1000 km leading to a brightness temperature at emission significantly exceeding the Planck temperature. I argue that these are most likely coalescing neutron star binaries. If so coincident bursts of neutrinos and gravitational radiation should be emitted, containing even greater energy. Since the radio waves are much easier to detect FRBs can serve as triggers for detection of neutrinos and gravitational radiation. With a network of radio receivers the trigger rate could exceed one million per year. Relative timing information could be used to determine the absolute mass scale of neutrinos.
Primary author
Dr
Albert Stebbins
(Fermilab)
