Enhanced Rates of Fast Radio Bursts from Galaxy Clusters

Understand

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) have so far been detected serendipitously across the sky.

• We consider the possible enhancement in the FRB rate in the direction of galaxy clusters, and compare the predicted rate from a large sample of galaxy clusters to the expected cosmological mean rate.
• We show that clusters offer better prospects for a blind survey if the faint end of the FRB luminosity function is steep.
• We find that for a telescope with a beam of ~1 deg^2, the best targets would be either nearby clusters such as Virgo or clusters at intermediate cosmological distances of few hundred Mpc, which offer maximal number of galaxies per beam.