Fast Radio Bursts - I: Initial Cogitation

E. F. Keane

Published 2014-09-22Version 1

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration radio signals thought to originate from cosmological distances. Many authors are endeavouring to explain their progenitors, with others outlining their potential uses as cosmological probes. Here we describe some sub-optimal performance in existing FRB search software, which can reduce the volume probed by over 20%, and result in missed discoveries and incorrect flux densities and sky rates. Recalculating some FRB flux densities, we find that FRB 010125 was approximately 50% brighter than previously reported. Furthermore we consider incompleteness factors important to the population statistics. Finally we make data for the archival FRBs easily available, along with software to analyse these.