The observed properties of fast radio bursts

I present an empirical study of the properties of fast radio bursts (FRBs): gigahertz-frequency, dispersed pulses of extragalactic origin. I focus my investigation on a sample of 17 FRBs detected at the Parkes radio telescope with largely self-consistent instrumentation. Of this sample, six are temporally unresolved, eight exhibit evidence for scattering in inhomogeneous plasma, and five display potentially intrinsic temporal structure. The characteristic scattering time-scales at a frequency of 1 GHz range between 0.005 and 32 ms; moderate evidence exists for a relation between FRB scattering time-scales and dispersion measures. Additionally, I present constraints on the fluences of Parkes FRBs, accounting for their uncertain sky positions, and use the multiple-beam detection of FRB 010724 (the Lorimer burst) to measure its fluence to be 800 ± 400 Jy ms. FRBs, including the repeating FRB 121102, appear to manifest with a plethora of characteristics, and it is uncertain at present whether they share a common class of progenitor object, or arise from a selection of independent progenitors.