The Physical Mechanisms of Fast Radio Bursts
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-4-2020
Publication Title
Nature
Volume
587
First page number:
45
Last page number:
53
Abstract
Fast radio bursts are mysterious millisecond-duration transients prevalent in the radio sky. Rapid accumulation of data in recent years has facilitated an understanding of the underlying physical mechanisms of these events. Knowledge gained from the neighbouring fields of gamma-ray bursts and radio pulsars has also offered insights. Here I review developments in this fast-moving field. Two generic categories of radiation model invoking either magnetospheres of compact objects (neutron stars or black holes) or relativistic shocks launched from such objects have been much debated. The recent detection of a Galactic fast radio burst in association with a soft gamma-ray repeater suggests that magnetar engines can produce at least some, and probably all, fast radio bursts. Other engines that could produce fast radio bursts are not required, but are also not impossible.
Disciplines
Physics | Stars, Interstellar Medium and the Galaxy
Language
English
Repository Citation
Zhang, B.
(2020).
The Physical Mechanisms of Fast Radio Bursts.
Nature, 587
45-53.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2828-1