On the Use of Fast Radio Burst Dispersion Measures as Distance Measures[Article]

Abstract

Fast radio bursts appear to be cosmological signals whose frequency-time structure provides a dispersion measure. The dispersion measure is a convolution of the cosmic distance element and the electron density, and contains the possibility of using these events as new cosmological distance measures. We explore the challenges of extracting the distance in a robust manner, and estimate the systematics control needed for fast radio bursts to become a competitive distance probe. The methodology can also be applied to their use for mapping electron density fluctuations or helium reionization.