Descrizione del progetto
Comprendere le relazioni tra impulsi radio veloci singoli e ripetuti
Gli impulsi radio veloci (FRB, fast radio burst) costituiscono un fenomeno astronomico affascinante che da tempo cattura l’interesse della comunità scientifica. La straordinaria densità di energia e le emissioni radio coerenti di tipo laser necessarie affinché essi si manifestino suscitano da tempo un notevole interesse in relazione alle loro origini, un fascino che ha stimolato progressi significativi. In questo contesto, il progetto EuroFlash, finanziato dal CER, creerà una rete europea di radiotelescopi dedicata a condurre un’indagine sistematica volta a comprendere le distinzioni e le correlazioni tra impulsi radio veloci singoli e ripetuti. Inoltre, il progetto si propone di migliorare la sensibilità e la frequenza di osservazione per affinare le localizzazioni e scoprire nuove sorgenti di impulsi radio veloci e altri fenomeni astronomici.
Obiettivo
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) present astronomers with a compelling mystery: what is creating these brilliant but ephemeral flashes that travel billions of lightyears before reaching Earth? Whatever is producing the FRBs, it requires an extreme energy density and the conditions for `laser-like’ coherent radio emission to be generated. While recent discoveries show that magnetars are a leading contender, the heterogeneous properties of the known FRB sample strongly suggest that there are multiple FRB source types. If so, then we have multiple mysterious FRB origins to uncover.
Due to the great interest in solving this puzzle, enormous progress has been made in recent years. There are now hundreds of known FRB sources, dozens of which repeat, and some of which have been localised to their exact galactic neighbourhoods. The FRB sample continues to grow at a rapid pace of several new sources per day, thanks to new wide-field radio telescopes. Studying these sources with dedicated follow-up is challenging because they emit sporadically and are only visible for milliseconds or less. At the same time, by casting an even wider net we are likely to discover new types of FRB-like signals.
With EuroFlash, I will create a coordinated network of European radio telescopes operating over a broad range of radio frequencies, providing high sensitivity and observing cadence, and achieving the best-possible localisations. I will use this network to perform a world-leading, systematic study of repeating FRBs, to understand their progenitor(s) and their relation to the apparently one-off FRB sources. I will also make a novel exploration of the parameter space of short-duration radio transients by exploiting the large field-of-view of LOFAR2.0 and commensal observations to find new sources. In doing so, I aim to discover new types of astrophysical phenomena that probe the extremes of the Universe.
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Argomento(i)
Invito a presentare proposte
(si apre in una nuova finestra) ERC-2022-ADG
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HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsIstituzione ospitante
3526 KV Utrecht
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