How the Square Kilometre Array Will Use Fast Radio Bursts to Decode the Universe

• The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will use Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) to analyze cosmic features, such as gas, dust, and magnetic fields, that are otherwise difficult to detect.
• While other telescopes like CHIME and DSA-2000 excel at detecting large numbers of FRBs, the SKA offers superior sensitivity and the ability to detect signals at record-low frequencies.
• FRBs act as "cosmic flashlights," with signal data providing precise information about matter, magnetic fields, and plasma along their path to Earth.

Scientific Objectives

• Weighting the Photon: By measuring if low-energy radio waves travel slower than high-energy waves over vast distances, the SKA will test the assumption that photons are massless.
• Testing General Relativity: Using gravitational effects from massive galaxy clusters on FRB signals to verify Einstein’s Equivalence Principle.
• Searching for Dark Matter: Detecting dispersion patterns that could indicate the presence of dense "solitonic cores" in galaxies, predicted by certain dark matter models.

Technical Fingerprints

• Dispersion Measure: Signals are delayed as they pass through normal matter; this delay quantifies the density of matter encountered.
• Polarization: Changes in radio wave orientation indicate the presence of magnetic fields.
• Scattering: The degree of signal scattering helps researchers estimate the amount of plasma the radio waves passed through.