Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

Radiation mechanism of Fast Radio Bursts

Pawan Kumar

University of Texas at Austin

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond duration transient events of unknown physical origin. At least a few FRBs are located at distances of several billion light years, and CHIME has established that there are many FRBs that repeat. Using very general arguments I will show that the radio emission is coherent, the magnetic field strength associated with the source of these events is 10¹⁴ Gauss or more, and the electric field is of order 10¹¹ esu. I will describe recent works that magnetic field distortion and reconfiguration is responsible for the strong electric field and the coherent radiation produced in these enigmatic events. I will also address polarization properties of the well known repeater.