Stellar prospects for FRB gravitational lensing

ABSTRACT Gravitational lensing of fast radio bursts (FRBs) offers an exciting avenue for several cosmological applications. However, it is not yet clear how many such events future surveys will detect nor how to optimally find them. We use the known properties of FRBs to forecast detection rates of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inMonthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Vol. 521; no. 3; pp. 4024 - 4038
Main Authors Connor, Liam, Ravi, Vikram
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford University Press 01.05.2023
Subjects
fast radio bursts
gravitational lensing
cosmology
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Summary:ABSTRACT Gravitational lensing of fast radio bursts (FRBs) offers an exciting avenue for several cosmological applications. However, it is not yet clear how many such events future surveys will detect nor how to optimally find them. We use the known properties of FRBs to forecast detection rates of gravitational lensing on delay time-scales from microseconds to years, corresponding to lens masses spanning 15 orders of magnitude. We highlight the role of the FRB redshift distribution on our ability to observe gravitational lensing. We consider cosmological lensing of FRBs by stars in foreground galaxies and show that strong stellar lensing will dominate on microsecond time-scales. Upcoming surveys such as DSA-2000 and CHORD will constrain the fraction of dark matter in compact objects (e.g. primordial black holes) and may detect millilensing events from intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) or small dark matter halos. Coherent all-sky monitors will be able to detect longer-duration lensing events from massive galaxies, in addition to short time-scale lensing. Finally, we propose a new application of FRB gravitational lensing that will measure directly the circumgalactic medium of intervening galaxies.
ISSN:0035-8711
1365-2966
DOI:10.1093/mnras/stad667