Revealing the origins of fast radio bursts by mapping their host galaxies

📖 Project Description

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are enigmatic bright radio pulses that mostly emerge at cosmological distances. Over a thousand FRBs are happening in the sky every day. However, the origin of FRBs is yet to be known. Therefore, understanding their origin and progenitor type is one of the most outstanding missions in modern astronomy. To understand the progenitor types of FRBs, the physical properties of their host galaxies provide important clues. If FRBs originate from the remnants of young stellar populations, such as magnetars, they may preferentially occur in regions of intense star formation within their host galaxies. Conversely, if their progenitors are associated with older stellar populations, such as binary neutron-star systems, FRBs may be more common in regions with high stellar-mass density. A key approach to addressing this is spatially resolved optical spectroscopic observations, which enable the study of the local physical properties at the sites of FRBs within host galaxies. However, most previous studies of host galaxies relied on spatially unresolved spectroscopic observations, limiting the ability to measure the local conditions. To overcome this problem, we take advantage of the Very Large Telescope (VLT)/Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO).

VLT/MUSE is an integral-field spectrograph with a large field of view and high sensitivity. We plan to use publically available VLT/MUSE data that has not been analyzed for this purpose. With these data, we aim to investigate the in-situ physical properties of FRB host galaxies to constrain the progenitor types of FRBs. The successful candidates will have an opportunity to publish a paper based on this project. This project also plans to collaborate with Dr. Kusakabe at the University of Tokyo and Dr. Yamasaki at NCHU. Candidates will use basic Python and shell scripting, and the project requires proficiency in English communication.