Neutrino Counterparts of Fast Radio Bursts

Abstract

Abstract The discovery of a luminous radio burst, FRB 200428, with properties similar to those of fast radio bursts (FRBs), in coincidence with an X-ray flare from the Galactic magnetar SGR 1935+2154, supports magnetar models for cosmological FRBs. The burst’s X-ray to radio fluence ratio, as well as the X-ray spectral shape and peak energy, are consistent with FRB 200428 being the result of an ultra-relativistic shock (powered, e.g., by an ejected plasmoid) propagating into a magnetized baryon-rich external medium; the shock simultaneously generates X-ray/gamma-rays via thermal synchrotron emission from electrons heated behind the shock, and coherent radio emission via the synchrotron maser mechanism. Here, we point out that a unique consequence of this baryon-loaded shock scenario is the generation of a coincident burst of high-energy neutrinos, generated by photohadronic interaction of relativistic ions—heated or accelerated at the shock—with thermal synchrotron photons. We estimate the properties of these neutrino burst FRB counterparts and find that a fraction ∼10−8–10−5 of the flare energy (or ∼10−4–10−1 of the radio isotropic energy) is channeled into production of neutrinos with typical energies ∼TeV–PeV. We conclude by discussing prospects for detecting this signal with IceCube and future high-energy neutrino detectors.