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Astrophysicists turn fast radio bursts into cosmic probes

As they travel across space, the ephemeral waves pick up information about galaxies and the large-scale structure of the Universe.
  1. Elizabeth Gibney
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Powerful, milliseconds-long blips of radiation known as fast radio bursts (FRBs) have puzzled scientists since they were discovered in 2007. Although their exact causes remain uncertain, astronomers are now beginning to use the bursts as tools to probe the cosmos — from untangling the nature of the cosmic web to measuring the expansion of the Universe.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00246-3

References

  1. Mannings, A. G. et al. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.15113 (2022).

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