X- and Gamma-rays from Fast Radio Bursts

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are intense pulses of radio emission originating from distant galaxies outside our Milky Way. FRBs last only a few milliseconds but can emit as much energy as hundreds of millions of suns. They were first discovered in 2007, and their exact origin remains a topic of ongoing research and debate among astronomers. Several of the proposed models predict associated multi-wavelength emission at X-rays or gamma-rays, however, coordinating multi-wavelength observations to better understand their origins and characteristics presents significant challenges but offers great potential for unlocking more insights into the nature of FRBs.
The INTEGRAL satellite has been observing the gamma-ray sky more than 20 years, so that FRBs could have serendipitously occurred during planned gamma-ray observations. In this project, the catalogue of known FRBs should be cross-matched with 22 years of INTEGRAL observations to possibly find simultaneous signals. After a subset of FRBs has been established, the gamma-ray data will be analysed to constrain existing models.

More information:

Recent and related publications: 

• Petroff et al. (2019): https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00159-019-0116-6 
• Biltzinger et al. (2022): https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022A%26A...663A.102B/abstract 

Contact persons:

Prof. Dr. Matthias Kadler: matthias.kadler@uni-wuerzburg.de
Dr. Thomas Siegert: thomas.siegert@uni-wuerzburg.de