Repeating fast radio bursts caused by small bodies orbiting a pulsar or a magnetar
arXiv:2002.12834 · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202037751
Abstract
Asteroids orbiting into the highly magnetized and highly relativistic wind of a pulsar offer a favourable configuration for repeating fast radio bursts (FRB). The body in direct contact with the wind develops a trail formed of a stationary Alfvén wave, called an \textit{Alfvén wing}. When an element of wind crosses the Alfvén wing, it sees a rotation of the ambient magnetic field that can cause radio-wave instabilities. In the observer's reference frame, the waves are collimated in a very narrow range of directions, and they have an extremely high intensity. A previous work, published in 2014, showed that planets orbiting a pulsar can cause FRB when they pass in our line of sight. We predicted periodic FRB. Since then random FRB repeaters have been discovered. We present an upgrade of this theory where repeaters can be explained by the interaction of smaller bodies with a pulsar wind. Considering the properties of relativistic Alfvén wings attached to a body in the pulsar wind, and taking thermal consideration into account we conduct a parametric study. We find that FRBs, including the Lorimer burst (30 Jy), can be explained by small size pulsar companions (1 to 10 km) between 0.03 and 1 AU from a highly magnetized millisecond pulsar. Some sets of parameters are also compatible with a magnetar. Our model is compatible with the high rotation measure of FRB121102. The bunched timing of the FRBs is the consequence of a moderate wind turbulence. As asteroid belt composed of less than 200 bodies would suffice for the FRB occurrence rate measured with FRB121102. This model, after the present upgrade, is compatible with the properties discovered since its first publication in 2014, when repeating FRB were still unknown. It is based on standard physics, and on common astrophysical objects that can be found in any kind of galaxy. It requires times less power than (common) isotropic-emission FRB models.
Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A, EDP Sciences, 2020
References in corpus (12)
- Seven temperate terrestrial planets around the nearby ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1
- The direct localization of a fast radio burst and its host
- A fast radio burst associated with a Galactic magnetar
- A bright millisecond-duration radio burst from a Galactic magnetar
- Possible periodic activity in the repeating FRB 121102
- 25 Years of Self-Organized Criticality: Solar and Astrophysics
- On the FRB luminosity function -- II. Event rate density
- Limitations in timing precision due to single-pulse shape variability in millisecond pulsars
- Radio emissions from pulsar companions : a refutable explanation for galactic transients and fast radio bursts
- Theory of pulsar magnetosphere and wind
- Dissipation of the striped pulsar wind
- Repeating fast radio bursts with WSRT/Apertif
Cited by in corpus (12)
- A repeating fast radio burst source in a globular cluster
- The 60 pc Environment of FRB 20180916B
- Periodic Activities of Repeating Fast Radio Bursts from Be/X-ray Binary Systems
- An accreting stellar binary model for active periodic fast radio bursts
- Periodic repeating fast radio bursts: interaction between a magnetized neutron star and its planet in an eccentric orbit
- On the Circular Polarisation of Repeating Fast Radio Bursts
- Periodic activity from fast radio burst FRB180916 explained in the frameof the orbiting asteroid model
- Fast radio burst repeaters produced via Kozai-Lidov feeding of neutron stars in binary systems
- A FRB in a Globular Cluster: Why Is This Neutron Star Different From (Almost) All Other Neutron Stars?
- Enhanced particle acceleration in a pulsar wind interacting with a companion
- Search of nearby resolved neutron stars among optical sources
- Prediction of Multi-Wavelength Afterglows Associated with FRB 20200120E and FRB 20201124A