Landing page for project EK056

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are amongst the biggest mysteries in modern astrophysics. Their short duration (~1ms) and high brightness temperatures (~10^35 K) imply extremely small emission regions and a highly energetic emission mechanism. Roughly speaking, there are two types of FRBs: those that have been seen to repeat and those that have not. Whether or not the two types share a common origin is unclear. One key to solving the FRB-puzzle is to know their local environments -- star forming region (SFR) or not, coincident with a persistent radio source (PRS) or not. Repeating FRBs are ideal targets for studies of this kind with the EVN -- and the EVN is the ideal instrument thanks to its high sensitivity and superior resolution. To date, we have found FRBs in SFRs but also in a globular cluster; two are coincident with a PRS, most are not. Here we propose to continue our monitoring campaign of repeating FRBs, aiming at building up a large catalogue of precisely localised repeating FRBs. Ultimately, only a large statistical sample of well localised FRBs will allow us to draw robust conclusions about their progenitors.

This data is part of the archive of VLBI data maintained by JIVE on behalf of the EVN, a network of radio telescopes located primarily in Europe and Asia, with additional antennas in South Africa. The EVN archive itself has the DOI https://doi.org/10.17616/R3Z197