Fast radio bursts: recent discoveries and future prospects

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are quickly becoming a subject of intense interest in time-domain astronomy. The progenitors of FRBs remain unknown but a wide variety of models exist from cataclysmic to repeating scenarios. Advances in FRB detection using current and next-generation radio telescopes will enable the growth of the population in the next few years. Real-time discovery of FRBs is now possible with 6 sources detected in real-time within the past 2 years at the Parkes telescope. Here we discuss the developing strategies for maximising real-time science with FRBs including polarisation capture and multi-wavelength follow-up, with particular focus on real-time detections with the Parkes telescope as a test bed for fast radio burst science. We also discuss how our response to these events can pave the way for the next generation of FRB searches with wide-field interferometers.Comment: Published in Proceedings from 11th INTEGRAL Conference: Gamma-ray Astrophysics in Multi-Wavelenth Perspectiv

Ultra Fast Nonlinear Optical Tuning of Photonic Crystal Cavities

We demonstrate fast (up to 20 GHz), low power (5 $\mu W$) modulation of photonic crystal (PC) cavities in GaAs containing InAs quantum dots. Rapid modulation through blue-shifting of the cavity resonance is achieved via free carrier injection by an above-band picosecond laser pulse. Slow tuning by several linewidths due to laser-induced heating is also demonstrated

Uniformly Rotating Homogeneous Rings in post-Newtonian Gravity

In this paper uniformly rotating relativistic rings are investigated analytically utilizing two different approximations simultaneously: (1) an expansion about the thin ring limit (the cross-section is small compared with the size of the whole ring) (2) post-Newtonian expansions. The analytic results for rings are compared with numerical solutions.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, v1: 2 tables added, agrees with published versio

The Axisymmetric Case for the Post-Newtonian Dedekind Ellipsoids

We consider the post-Newtonian approximation for the Dedekind ellipsoids in the case of axisymmetry. The approach taken by Chandrasekhar & Elbert (1974, 1978) excludes the possibility of finding a uniformly rotating (deformed) spheroid in the axially symmetric limit, though the solution exists at the point of axisymmetry. We consider an extension to their work that permits the possibility of such a limit.Comment: 12 pages, v1: more discussion of comparison to Chandrasekhar's and Elbert's work, modified to agree with published versio

The Parametric Transition of Strange Matter Rings to a Black Hole

It is shown numerically that strange matter rings permit a continuous transition to the extreme Kerr black hole. The multipoles as defined by Geroch and Hansen are studied and suggest a universal behaviour for bodies approaching the extreme Kerr solution parametrically. The appearance of a `throat region', a distinctive feature of the extreme Kerr spacetime, is observed. With regard to stability, we verify for a large class of rings, that a particle sitting on the surface of the ring never has enough energy to escape to infinity along a geodesic.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, v3: minor changes so as to coincide with published versio