The Fluence and Distance Distributions of Fast Radio Bursts

Abstract

Fast radio bursts (FRB) are millisecond-duration radio pulses with apparent extragalactic origins. All but two of the FRBs have been discovered using the Parkes dish which employs multiple beams formed by an array of feed horns on its focal plane. In this paper, we show that (i) the preponderance of multiple-beam detections, and (ii) the detection rates for varying dish diameters, can be used to infer the index $\alpha$ of the cumulative fluence distribution function (the log$N$-log$F$ function: $\alpha =1.5$ for a non-evolving population in a Euclidean universe). If all detected FRBs arise from a single progenitor population, multiple-beam FRB detection rates from the Parkes telescope yield the constraint $0.52<\alpha <1.0$ with $90$% confidence. Searches at other facilities with different dish sizes refine the constraint to $0.66<\alpha <0.96$. Our results favor FRB searches with smaller dishes, because for $\alpha <1$, the gain in field-of-view for a smaller dish is more important than the reduction in sensitivity. Further, our results suggest that (i) FRBs are not standard candles, and (ii) the distribution of distances to the detected FRBs is weighted towards larger distances. If FRBs are extragalactic, these results are consistent with a cosmological population, which would make FRBs excellent probes of the baryonic content and geometry of the Universe.

In press (ApJ)

References in corpus (7)

• A bright millisecond radio burst of extragalactic origin
• Fast Radio Burst Discovered in the Arecibo Pulsar ALFA Survey
• Fast radio bursts: search sensitivities and completeness
• A fast radio burst in the direction of the Carina dwarf spheroidal galaxy
• The Galactic Position Dependence of Fast Radio Bursts and the Discovery of FRB 011025
• What Perytons Aren't, and Might Be
• Are perytons signatures of ball lightning?

Cited by in corpus (24)

• The First CHIME/FRB Fast Radio Burst Catalog
• The magnetic field and turbulence of the cosmic web measured using a brilliant fast radio burst
• A Multi-telescope Campaign on FRB 121102: Implications for the FRB Population
• The Physics of Fast Radio Bursts
• On the FRB luminosity function -- II. Event rate density
• Chromatic periodic activity down to 120 MHz in a Fast Radio Burst
• The z-DM distribution of fast radio bursts
• FAST observations of an extremely active episode of FRB 20201124A: II. Energy Distribution
• FRB event rate counts I --- Interpreting the Observations
• Interpreting the distributions of FRB observables
• A Fast Radio Burst Occurs Every Second throughout the Observable Universe
• Cosmology with fast radio bursts in the era of SKA
• Synthesizing the intrinsic FRB population using frbpoppy
• Fast Radio Burst Distributions Consistent with the First CHIME/FRB Catalog
• The dispersion measure and scattering of FRBs: Contributions from the intergalactic medium, foreground halos, and hosts
• Energy function, formation rate and low-metallicity environment of fast radio bursts
• A search for FRB 121102-like persistent radio-luminous sources -- Candidates and implications for the FRB rate and searches
• The Northern Cross Fast Radio Burst project. I. Overview and pilot observations at 408 MHz
• Radio-interferometric monitoring of FRB 131104: A coincident AGN flare, but no evidence for a cosmic fireball
• Detecting fast radio bursts at decametric wavelengths
• Fast Radio Burst Tomography of the Unseen Universe
• On the Possibility of Fast Radio Bursts from Inside Supernovae: The Case of SN 1986J
• Diverse origins for non-repeating fast radio bursts: Rotational radio transient sources and cosmological compact binary merger remnants
• Novel understanding of Cosmological Phenomena using Fast Radio Bursts