Fast Radio Bursts - implications and future prospects for Fermi

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in fast radio burst (FRB) research, emphasizing the importance of real-time detection and localization, the potential existence of multiple FRB classes, and the role of future telescopes in unraveling their origins.

Contribution

It discusses recent developments, the FRB-GRB connection, open questions, and highlights how next-generation telescopes will advance understanding of FRBs.

Findings

Only one repeating FRB has been observed.

Potential existence of two distinct FRB classes.

Next-generation telescopes are crucial for progress.

Abstract

The recent development of sensitive, high time resolution instruments at radio telescopes has enabled the discovery of millisecond duration fast radio bursts (FRBs). The FRB class encompasses a number of single pulses, many unique in their own way, so far hindering the development of a consensus for their origin. The key to demystifying FRBs lies in discovering many of them in realtime in order to localise them and identity commonalities. Despite rigorous follow-up, only one FRB has been seen to repeat suggesting the possibility of there being two independent classes of FRBs and thus two classes of possible progenitors. This paper discusses recent developments in the field, the FRB-GRB connection, some of the open questions in FRB astronomy and how the next generation telescopes are vital in the quest to understand this enigmatic population.