The Propagation of Fast Radio Bursts in the Magnetosphere Shapes Their Waiting-time and Flux Distributions

Abstract

The field of fast radio bursts (FRBs) has entered the age of fine characterization as observational results from different radio telescopes become more and more abundant. The large FRB sample is suitable for a statistical study. There is an interesting finding that the waiting-time distributions of very active repeating FRBs show a universal double-peaked feature, with left peaks lower than right ones. Assuming these two peaks are independent and initially comparable, we show that the observed asymmetric shape can be ascribed to the propagational effect in the magnetosphere. An FRB passing through the magnetized plasma will induce the circular motion of charged particles to form a current loop. This further leads to an induced magnetic field in the opposite direction with respect to the background field. As the effective field strength changes, the scattering absorption probability of the following FRB will be influenced. The absorption can be important under certain physical conditions and bursts with smaller time lags are easier to be absorbed. Also, there will be an imprint on the flux distribution as the scattering optical depth depends on burst luminosity as well.