For Fast Radio Bursts Research Articles

Non-cosmological FRBs from young supernova remnant pulsars

Abstract We propose a new extra but non-cosmological explanation for fast radio bursts (FRBs) based on very young pulsars in supernova remnants. Within a few hundred years of a core-collapse supernova, the ejecta is confined within ∼1 pc, providing a high enough column density of free electrons for the observed 375–1600 pc cm−3 of dispersion measure (DM). By extrapolating a Crab-like pulsar to its infancy in an environment like that of SN 1987A, we hypothesize such an object could emit supergiant pulses sporadically which would be bright enough to be seen at a few hundred megaparsecs. We hypothesize that such supergiant pulses would preferentially occur early in the pulsar's life when the free electron density is still high, which is why we do not see large numbers of moderate DM FRBs (≲300 pc cm−3). In this scenario, Faraday rotation at the source gives rotation measures (RMs) much larger than the expected cosmological contribution. If the emission were pulsar-like, then the polarization vector could swing over the duration of the burst, which is not expected from non-rotating objects. In this model, the scattering, large DM, and commensurate RM all come from one place which is not the case for the cosmological interpretation. The model also provides testable predictions of the flux distribution and repeat rate of FRBs, and could be furthermore verified by spatial coincidence with optical supernovae of the past several decades and cross-correlation with nearby galaxy maps.

A SEARCH FOR FAST RADIO BURSTS AT LOW FREQUENCIES WITH MURCHISON WIDEFIELD ARRAY HIGH TIME RESOLUTION IMAGING

We present the results of a pilot study search for Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) at low frequencies (139 - 170 MHz). We utilised MWA data obtained in a routine imaging mode from observations where the primary target was a field being studied for Epoch of Reionisation detection. We formed images with 2 second time resolution and 1.28~MHz frequency resolution for 10.5 hours of observations, over 400 square degrees of the sky. We de-dispersed the dynamic spectrum in each of 372,100 resolution elements of 2$\times$2 arcmin$^{2}$, between dispersion measures of 170 and 675~pc~cm$^{-3}$. Based on the event rate calculations in Trott, Tingay & Wayth (2013), which assumes a standard candle luminosity of $8\times10^{37}$ Js$^{-1}$, we predict that with this choice of observational parameters, the MWA should detect ($\sim10$,$\sim2$,$\sim0$) FRBs with spectral indices corresponding to ($-$2, $-$1, 0), based on a 7$\sigma$ detection threshold. We find no FRB candidates above this threshold from our search, placing an event rate limit of $<700$ above 700 Jy.ms per day per sky and providing evidence against spectral indices $\alpha<-1.2$ ($S\propto\nu^{\alpha}$). We compare our event rate and spectral index limits with others from the literature. We briefly discuss these limits in light of recent suggestions that supergiant pulses from young neutron stars could explain FRBs. We find that such supergiant pulses would have to have much flatter spectra between 150 and 1400 MHz than have been observed from Crab giant pulses to be consistent with the FRB spectral index limit we derive.

Fast radio bursts: search sensitivities and completeness

In this paper we identify some sub-optimal performance in algorithms that search for Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs), which can reduce the cosmological volume probed by over 20%, and result in missed discoveries and incorrect flux density and sky rate determinations. Re-calculating parameters for all of the FRBs discovered with the Parkes telescope (i.e. all of the reported FRBs bar one), we find some inconsistencies with previously determined values, e.g. FRB 010125 was approximately twice as bright as previously reported. We describe some incompleteness factors not previously considered which are important in determining accurate population statistics, e.g. accounting for fluence incompleteness the Thornton et al. all-sky rate can be re-phrased as ~2500 FRBs per sky per day above a 1.4-GHz fluence of ~2 Jy ms. Finally we make data for the FRBs easily available, along with software to analyse these.