Log-Normal Waiting Time Widths Characterize Dynamics

Abstract

Many astronomical phenomena, including Fast Radio Bursts and Soft Gamma Repeaters, consist of brief distinct aperiodic events. The intervals between these events vary randomly, but there are periods of greater activity, with shorter mean intervals, and of lesser activity, with longer mean intervals. A single dimensionless parameter, the width of a log-normal function fitted to the distribution of waiting times between events, quantifies the variability of the activity. This parameter describes its dynamics in analogy to the critical exponents and universality classes of renormalization group theory. If the distribution of event strengths is a power law, the width of the log-normal fit is independent of the detection threshold and is a robust measure of the dynamics of the phenomenon.