ABSTRACT Fast radio bursts are a relatively new phenomenon discovered just 15 years ago. They are bright extragalactic radio bursts with typical durations from a fraction of a millisecond up to a few tens of millisecond. Discovery of similar events simultaneously with high energy bursts from one of the Galactic magnetar confirms the hypothesis that powerful episodes of magnetic energy release in neutron stars can be accompanied by radio flares. Still, there are many unsolved problems related to FRBs. In the talk I describe general properties of FRBs, discuss two important topics of research -- origin of magnetars producing FRBs and mechanism of radio emission, -- and finally, present how FRB observations are used in fundamental physics to put constraints on some basic parameters and constants.
Prof. R. Turolla
