Fast Radio Bursts Map Hidden Matter, Constraining Galaxy Formation

A sample of 109 fast radio bursts with measured redshifts and dispersion measures is allowing scientists to map fluctuations in baryon density, revealing how energy injected during galaxy formation suppresses the clustering of matter within galaxy groups and clusters ranging from 10^(13)-10^(15) M_⊙. The work demonstrates that FRB data reduces the posterior variance at k~ 1 h Mpc-1 by a factor of approximately eight relative to the prior. Kritti Sharma of the California Institute of Technology and colleagues established fast radio bursts as a sensitive probe of feedback-regulated structure formation, and larger samples will further refine constraints on baryonic physics. This improvement in precision stems from the unique ability of FRB…