Probing the large-scale clustering of fast radio bursts with CHIME/FRB
| dc.contributor.author | Rafiei-Ravandi, Masoud | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2021-08-23T17:31:02Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2021-08-23T17:31:02Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2021-08-23 | |
| dc.date.submitted | 2021-08-18 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Explaining the nature of extragalactic fast radio bursts (FRBs) has puzzled astrophysicists since 2007. In this thesis, we introduce the CHIME/FRB instrument, an FRB search engine that could solve this puzzle through FRB population studies. We explore CHIME/FRB science results, with an emphasis on the FRB-galaxy correlation. First, we formulate a framework for characterizing FRBs (e.g. by constraining their redshift and host dispersion measure distributions) through angular cross-correlations with large-scale structure. Using this machinery we model, forecast and simulate the FRB-galaxy correlation for two distinct FRB models. Then, we apply this technique to real data, using the first CHIME/FRB catalog along with five photometric redshift catalogs of galaxies. Computing the FRB-galaxy cross power spectrum, we find a statistically significant (p-value ~ 10⁻⁴, accounting for look-elsewhere factors) cross-correlation between CHIME FRBs and galaxies in the redshift range 0.3 ≲ z ≲ 0.5. The strength and angular scale of the cross-correlation are consistent with an order-one fraction of CHIME FRBs being in this redshift range, and in the same dark matter halos as the survey galaxies. Finally, we find statistical evidence for a subpopulation of FRBs with large host dispersion measure (host DM ~ 400 pc/cm³) at z ~ 0.4. We show that such large host DMs could be explained by a small population of FRBs near the centers (r ≲ 100 kpc) of large (M ~ 10¹⁴ M⊙) halos. | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10012/17231 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.pending | false | |
| dc.publisher | University of Waterloo | en |
| dc.subject | cosmology | en |
| dc.subject | high energy astrophysics | en |
| dc.title | Probing the large-scale clustering of fast radio bursts with CHIME/FRB | en |
| dc.type | Doctoral Thesis | en |
| uws-etd.degree | Doctor of Philosophy | en |
| uws-etd.degree.department | Physics and Astronomy | en |
| uws-etd.degree.discipline | Physics | en |
| uws-etd.degree.grantor | University of Waterloo | en |
| uws-etd.embargo.terms | 0 | en |
| uws.contributor.advisor | Smith, Kendrick | |
| uws.contributor.advisor | Broderick, Avery | |
| uws.contributor.affiliation1 | Faculty of Science | en |
| uws.peerReviewStatus | Unreviewed | en |
| uws.published.city | Waterloo | en |
| uws.published.country | Canada | en |
| uws.published.province | Ontario | en |
| uws.scholarLevel | Graduate | en |
| uws.typeOfResource | Text | en |