Repeating Fast Radio Bursts from Magnetars with Low Magnetospheric Twist

Abstract

We analyze the statistics of pulse arrival times in fast radio burst (FRB) 121102 and demonstrate that they are remarkably similar to statistics of magnetar high-energy short bursts. Motivated by this correspondence, we propose that repeating FRBs are generated during short bursts in the closed field line zone of magnetar magnetospheres via a pulsar-like emission mechanism. Crustal slippage events dislocate field line foot points, initiating intense particle acceleration and pair production, giving rise to coherent radio emission similar to that generated near pulsar polar caps. We argue that the energetics of FRB 121102 can be readily accounted for if the efficiency of the conversion of Poynting flux into coherent radio emission is $\sim 10^{-4}-10^{-2}$, values consistent with empirical efficiencies of radio emission in pulsars and radio-loud magnetars. Such a mechanism could operate only in magnetars with preexisting low twist of the magnetosphere, so that the charge density in the closed zone is initially insufficient to screen the electric field provoked by the wiggling of magnetic field lines and is low enough to let $\sim 1$ GHz radio emission escape the magnetosphere, which can explain the absence of FRBs from known magnetars. The pair cascades crowd the closed flux tubes with plasma, screening the accelerating electric field, thus limiting the radio pulse duration to $\sim 1$ ms. Within the framework of our model, the current dataset of the polarization angle variation in FRB 121102 suggests a magnetic obliquity $\alpha \lesssim 40^{\circ }$ and viewing angle $\zeta$ with respect to the spin axis $\alpha <\zeta <180^{\circ }-\alpha$.

11 pages, 4 figures, accepted to ApJ, proofs corrected

References in corpus (21)

• The Host Galaxy and Redshift of the Repeating Fast Radio Burst FRB 121102
• Fast Radio Bursts
• Transient pulsed radio emission from a magnetar
• Fast radio bursts as synchrotron maser emission from decelerating relativistic blast waves
• Corona of Magnetars
• A Second Source of Repeating Fast Radio Bursts
• Untwisting magnetospheres of neutron stars
• Coherent Emission Mechanisms in Astrophysical Plasmas
• Time-dependent pair cascades in magnetospheres of neutron stars I. Dynamics of the polar cap cascade with no particle supply from the neutron star surface
• QPOs during magnetar flares are not driven by mechanical normal modes of the crust
• Formation Rates and Evolution Histories of Magnetars
• A Swift gaze into the 2006 March 29th burst forest of SGR 1900+14
• Resonant Compton Upscattering in Anomalous X-ray Pulsars
• Polarized radio emission from a magnetar
• Magnetically-driven crustquakes in neutron stars
• The Five Year Fermi/GBM Magnetar Burst Catalog
• Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in Short Recurring Bursts of the Soft-Gamma Repeater J1550-5418
• Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in Short Recurring Bursts of the magnetars SGR 1806-20 and SGR 1900+14 Observed With RXTE
• Magnetar-like X-ray bursts suppress pulsar radio emission
• Intermittency and Lifetime of the 625 Hz QPO in the 2004 Hyperflare from the Magnetar SGR 1806-20 as evidence for magnetic coupling between the crust and the core
• Opacities for Photon Splitting and Pair Creation in Neutron Star Magnetospheres

Cited by in corpus (74)

• INTEGRAL discovery of a burst with associated radio emission from the magnetar SGR 1935+2154
• The Physics of Fast Radio Bursts
• Implications of a "Fast Radio Burst" from a Galactic Magnetar
• The Physics of Fast Radio Bursts
• Fast radio bursts and their high-energy counterpart from magnetar magnetospheres
• A comparative study of host galaxy properties between Fast Radio Bursts and stellar transients
• Evidence for an abundant old population of Galactic ultra long period magnetars and implications for fast radio bursts
• What does FRB light-curve variability tell us about the emission mechanism?
• Quasi-periodic oscillations of the X-ray burst from the magnetar SGR J1935+2154 and associated with the fast radio burst FRB 200428
• Periodic Activities of Repeating Fast Radio Bursts from Be/X-ray Binary Systems
• Polarization of Fast Radio Bursts: radiation mechanisms and propagation effects
• On the magnetospheric origin of Repeating Fast Radio Bursts
• Luminosity-duration relations and luminosity functions of repeating and non-repeating fast radio bursts
• Faraday Rotation Measure Variations of Repeating Fast Radio Burst Sources
• The dynamic magnetosphere of Swift J1818.0$-$1607
• Fast radio bursts trigger aftershocks resembling earthquakes, but not solar flares
• Rapid spin changes around a magnetar fast radio burst
• Repeating fast radio bursts reveal memory from minutes to an hour
• Emission Properties of Periodic Fast Radio Bursts from the Motion of Magnetars: Testing Dynamical Models
• Deep optical observations contemporaneous with emission from the periodic FRB 180916.J0158+65
• The game of life on a magnetar crust: from $\gamma$-ray flares to FRBs
• The arrival time and energy of FRBs traverse the time-energy bivariate space like a Brownian motion
• Pulsar revival in neutron star mergers: multi-messenger prospects for the discovery of pre-merger coherent radio emission
• Periodicity Search on X-ray Bursts of SGR J1935+2154 Using 8.5 yr of Fermi/GBM Data
• Statistical similarity between soft gamma repeaters and the repeating fast radio bursts
• Reanalysis of the X-ray burst associated FRB 200428 with Insight-HXMT observations
• A Nançay Radio Telescope study of the hyperactive repeating FRB 20220912A
• The periodic origin of fast radio bursts
• Repeating Fast Radio Bursts with High Burst Rates by Plate Collisions in Neutron Star Crusts
• Scintillation can explain the spectral structure of the bright radio burst from SGR 1935+2154
• Oscillations of Highly Magnetized Non-rotating Neutron Stars
• Similarity to earthquakes again: periodic radio pulses of the magnetar SGR 1935+2154 are accompanied by aftershocks like fast radio bursts
• Search for Long-duration Gravitational-wave Signals Associated with Magnetar Giant Flares
• Narrow spectra of repeating fast radio bursts: A magnetospheric origin
• Axion-mediated Transport of Fast Radio Bursts Originating in Inner Magnetospheres of Magnetars
• Periodic activity from fast radio burst FRB180916 explained in the frameof the orbiting asteroid model
• Possible periodic activity in the short bursts of SGR 1806-20: connection to fast radio bursts
• Formation of periodic FRB in binary systems with eccentricity
• Hybrid Pulsar-Magnetar Model for FRB 20191221A
• Multi-wavelength and Multi-messenger Counterparts of Fast Radio Bursts
• A Toy Model for the Time-Frequency Structure of Fast Radio Bursts: Implications for the CHIME Burst Dichotomy
• High-Energy Photon Opacity in the Twisted Magnetospheres of Magnetars
• Circular polarization of fast radio bursts in the curvature radiation scenario
• Multi-messenger astronomy with INTEGRAL
• Contemporaneous X-ray Observations of 30 Bright Radio Bursts from the Prolific Fast Radio Burst Source FRB 20220912A
• On the energy budget of starquake-induced repeating fast radio bursts
• Testing afterglow models of FRB 200428 with early post-burst observations of SGR 1935+2154
• Ring momentum distributions as a general feature of Vlasov dynamics in the synchrotron dominated regime
• X-ray burst and persistent emission properties of the magnetar SGR 1830-0645 in outburst
• Contemporaneous optical-radio observations of a fast radio burst in a close galaxy pair
• Hyper-active repeating fast radio bursts from rotation modulated starquakes on magnetars
• FRB$-$SRB$-$XRB: Geometric and Relativistic Beaming Constraints of Fast Radio Bursts from the Galactic Magnetar SGR J1935+2154
• An activity transition in FRB 20201124A: methodological rigor, detection of frequency-dependent cessation, and a geometric magnetar model
• The Impact of the Environment of White Dwarf Mergers on Fast Radio Bursts
• The Low Frequency Perspective on Fast Radio Bursts
• Hints of a universal width-energy relation for classified fast radio bursts
• Fast Radio Bursts as crustal dynamical events induced by magnetic field evolution in young magnetars
• Earth-mass primordial black hole mergers as sources for non-repeating FRBs
• Fast Radio Bursts
• Time-integrated constraint on neutrino flux of CHIME fast radio burst sources with 10-year IceCube point-source data
• Angular Dependence of Coherent Radio Emission from Magnetars with Multipolar Magnetic Fields
• Periodic Activities of Fast Radio Burst Repeaters from Precessing Magnetars with Evolving Obliquity
• Dispersion Measures of Fast Radio Bursts through the Epoch of Reionization
• A Comprehensive Study of the Energy and Redshift Distributions of the Fast Radio Burst Population Based on the First CHIME/FRB Catalog
• A Target Search for Fast Radio Bursts Associated with Two Fast Blue Optical Transients: AT2018cow and CSS161010
• Simultaneous view of the FRB~180301 with FAST and NICER during a bursting phase
• Geometrical envelopes of fast radio bursts
• Similar Scale-invariant Behaviors between Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters and An Extreme Epoch from FRB 121102
• Estimation of neutron star mass and radius of FRB 20240114A by identification of crustal oscillations
• Evidence of the association of repeating fast-radio-burst sources with fast-spinning super-twisted magnetars
• The Impact of Accretion on FRB Radiation Mechanisms in Binary Systems: Constraints and Implications
• Energy and waiting time distributions of FRB 121102 observed by FAST
• Do the periodic activities of repeating fast radio bursts represent the spins of neutron stars?
• A month of monitoring the new magnetar Swift J1555.2-5402 during an X-ray outburst