Description
Author and Speaker: Jack Singal
Abstract: It has become apparent that the background brightness level of diffuse radio emission on the sky and its level of anisotropy is significantly higher than those which can result from known classes of astrophysical radio sources. In contrast to the more well-known photon backgrounds at microwave, infrared, optical/UV, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths, where the levels of brightness and anisotropy at least roughly match those expected from known cosmological and astrophysical sources, the "radio synchrotron background" at radio wavelengths provides clear motivation for considering new sources and new particle-based emission mechanisms, including those from the dark sector. This talk will summarize the current understanding of the radio synchrotron background and some of the proposed particle-based emission mechanisms.
