Speaker
Description
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration extragalactic radio transients of elusive origin that were first discovered in 2007. They are unique probes of the density and magnetization of the interstellar and intergalactic media and they will be even more useful when we better understand their sources, emission and environments. A small fraction of FRBs has been observed to repeat, which has ruled out a cataclysmic origin for these sources and allows for detailed multi-wavelength follow-up observations that constrain FRB models. It is as-of-yet unclear whether all FRBs repeat and if FRB models based on a few well-studied repeaters can be extrapolated to the full population. Canada’s CHIME telescope has been instrumental in uncovering the diversity of FRBs: it provided the first statistical sample of FRBs and it discovered the vast majority of the repeating sources by revisiting the Northern sky every day for the last four years. I will present the differences between repeaters and apparent nonrepeaters that have emerged, with a focus on observations from CHIME/FRB, and I will discuss how the differences can/cannot be reconciled with one population of FRBs.
