A maximum likelihood estimate of the parameters of the FRB population

Siddhartha Bhattacharyya; Himanshu Tiwari; Somnath Bharadwaj; Suman Majumdar

doi:10.1093/mnrasl/slab107

paper

A maximum likelihood estimate of the parameters of the FRB population

arXiv:2109.06785 · doi:10.1093/mnrasl/slab107

Abstract

We consider a sample of $82$ non-repeating FRBs detected at Parkes, ASKAP, CHIME and UTMOST each of which operates over a different frequency range and has a different detection criteria. Using simulations, we perform a maximum likelihood analysis to determine the FRB population model which best fits this data. Our analysis shows that models where the pulse scatter broadening increases moderately with redshift ( $z$ ) are preferred over those where this increases very sharply or where scattering is absent. Further, models where the comoving event rate density is constant over $z$ are preferred over those where it follows the cosmological star formation rate. Two models for the host dispersion measure ( $D M_{host}$ ) distribution (a fixed and a random $D M_{host}$ ) are found to predict comparable results. We obtain the best fit parameter values $α = - 1.5 3_{- 0.19}^{+ 0.29}$ , $E_{33} = 1.5 5_{- 0.22}^{+ 0.26}$ and $γ = 0.77 \pm 0.24$ . Here $α$ is the spectral index, $γ$ is the exponent of the Schechter luminosity function and $E_{33}$ is the mean FRB energy in units of $1 0^{33} J$ across $2128 - 2848 MHz$ in the FRB rest frame.

arXiv comment5 pages, 3 figures, Accepted for Publication in the MNRAS Letter

A maximum likelihood estimate of the parameters of the FRB population

Abstract

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