Mon, 15 May
|Lecture Theatre
What are these mysterious Fast Radio Bursts?
by Professor Ben Stappers In 2007 Astronomers discovered a very bright burst of radio emission which lasted just a few milliseconds which originated far outside of our own galaxy. The extreme brightness and very short duration of what became known as Fast Radio Bursts that the progentior
Time & Location
15 May 2023, 19:15 – 21:00
Lecture Theatre, Romney Rd, London SE10 9NF, UK
About the Event
must be highly energetic and mostly likely associated with a black hole or neutron star. Another possibility is that they are caused by some cataclysmic event, like the collapse of a neutron star to form a black hole or the merger of two neutron stars. As these bursts travel great distances through space they are great probes of the material and space between us and their origin helping us to understand more about the missing mass and energy in the Universe. There are now thousands of these bursts known and the race is on to find many more with new and existing telescopes around the world. I will discuss recent discoveries and possible origins of the bursts and our own searches using the Lovell and MeerKAT telescopes and will give a forward look to the Square Kilometre Array.
Bio:
Ben Stappers is a Professor of Astrophysics in the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics where he leads the Pulsars, Exoplanets and Transients research group. His primary research interests are radio pulsars, neutron stars and fast radio bursts. He also works on building instruments for radio telescopes such as LOFAR, Lovell, Westerbork, MeerKAT and the SKA.