Fast radio bursts: the observational case for a Galactic origin

Maoz, Dan; Loeb, Abraham; Shvartzvald, Yossi; Sitek, M.; Engel, M. C.; Kiefer, F.; Kiraga, M.; Levi, Amir; Mazeh, T.; Pawlak, M.; Rich, R. Michael; Tal-Or, L.; Wyrzykowski, Ł.

doi:10.1093/mnras/stv2105

Cited by 36 publications

(36 citation statements)

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“…They are very short (∼ 1 − 10 ms) and bright (∼ 0.1 − 1 Jy) sporadic events observed in the ∼ 1 GHz bands showing a large dispersion measure (DM), DM ∼ 500 − 1000 pc cm −3 . If the dispersion originates mainly from the intergalactic propagation (Ioka 2003;Inoue 2004), the sources can be at cosmological distance up to z ∼ 1 (but see, e.g., Loeb, Shvartzvald & Maoz 2014;Maoz et al 2015), and a high brightness temperature requires a coherent emission mechanism (e.g., Lorimer et al 2007;Lyubarsky 2008;Thornton et al 2013;Katz 2014). Interestingly, despite being relatively common (∼ 10 % of core-collapse supernovae; Thornton et al 2013;Keane & Petroff 2015;Law et al 2015), the origin of FRBs is still unknown.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A burst in a wind bubble and the impact on baryonic ejecta: high-energy gamma-ray flashes and afterglows from fast radio bursts and pulsar-driven supernova remnants

Murase

Kashiyama

Mészáros

2016

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

266

282

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Tenuous wind bubbles, which are formed by the spin-down activity of central compact remnants, are relevant in some models of fast radio bursts (FRBs) and superluminous supernovae. We study their high-energy signatures, focusing on the role of pair-enriched bubbles produced by young magnetars, rapidly-rotating neutron stars, and magnetized white dwarfs. (i) First, we study the nebular properties and the conditions allowing for escape of high-energy gamma-rays and radio waves, showing that their escape is possible for nebulae with ages of 10 − 100 yr. In the rapidly-rotating neutron star scenario, we find that radio emission from the quasi-steady nebula itself may be bright enough to be detected especially at sub-mm frequencies, which is relevant as a possible counterpart of pulsar-driven SNe and FRBs. (ii) Second, we consider the fate of bursting emission in the nebulae. We suggest that an impulsive burst may lead to a highly relativistic flow, which would interact with the nebula. If the shocked nebula is still relativistic, pre-existing non-thermal particles in the nebula can be significantly boosted by the forward shock, leading to short-duration (maybe millisecond or longer) high-energy gamma-ray flashes. Possible dissipation at the reverse shock may also lead to gamma-ray emission. (iii) After such flares, interactions with the baryonic ejecta may lead to afterglow emission with a duration of days to weeks. In the magnetar scenario, this burst-in-bubble model leads to the expectation that nearby ( 10 − 100 Mpc) high-energy gamma-ray flashes may be detected by the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory and the Cherenkov Telescope Array, and the subsequent afterglow emission may be seen by radio telescopes such as the Very Large Array. (iv) Finally, we discuss several implications specific to FRBs, including constraints on the emission regions and limits on soft gamma-ray counterparts.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A burst in a wind bubble and the impact on baryonic ejecta: high-energy gamma-ray flashes and afterglows from fast radio bursts and pulsar-driven supernova remnants

Murase

Kashiyama

Mészáros

2016

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

266

282

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“…Nearby Galactic (D ∼ < 1 kpc) flare stars have been proposed as repeating FRB sources (Loeb et al 2014). FRB 131104, however, has no apparent variable stars within its sky localization (Maoz et al 2015), and has not been observed to repeat (Ravi et al 2015). A local extragalactic origin, as from giant pulses of a pulsar in the Carina dwarf spheroidal galaxy or Magellanic stream (Ravi et al 2015), is also excluded, as pulsar giant pulses are not accompanied by gamma-ray emission.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2) does not reveal any prominent Local Group or low-redshift galaxies, nor bright active galaxies, although as noted by Ravi et al (2015), the field is near the projected tidal limit of the Carina dwarf spheroidal galaxy (D ≈ 100 kpc) and a projected tidal stream of the Large Magellanic Cloud (D ≈ 50 kpc). The absence of known or candidate flare stars has been noted by Maoz et al (2015).…”

Section: Counterpart Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discovery of a Transient Gamma-Ray Counterpart to FRB 131104

DeLaunay

Fox

Murase

et al. 2016

ApJL

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We report our discovery in Swift satellite data of a transient gamma-ray counterpart (3.2σ confidence) to the fast radio burst FRB 131104, the first such counterpart to any FRB. The transient has duration T 90 ∼ > 100 s and fluence S γ ≈ 4 × 10 −6 erg cm −2 , increasing the energy budget for this event by more than a billion times; at the nominal z ≈ 0.55 redshift implied by its dispersion measure, the burst's gamma-ray energy output is E γ ≈ 5 × 10 51 erg. The observed radio to gamma-ray fluence ratio for FRB 131104 is consistent with a lower limit we derive from Swift observations of another FRB, which is not detected in gamma-rays, and with an upper limit previously derived for the brightest gamma-ray flare from SGR 1806−20, which was not detected in the radio. X-ray, ultraviolet, and optical observations beginning two days after the FRB do not reveal any associated afterglow, supernova, or transient; Swift observations exclude association with the brightest 65% of Swift gamma-ray burst X-ray afterglows, while leaving the possibility of an associated supernova at much more than 10% the FRB's nominal distance, D ∼ > 320 Mpc, largely unconstrained. Transient high-luminosity gamma-ray emission arises most naturally in a relativistic outflow or shock breakout, as for example from magnetar flares, gamma-ray bursts, relativistic supernovae, and some types of galactic nuclear activity. Our discovery thus bolsters the case for an extragalactic origin for some FRBs and suggests that future rapid-response observations might identify long-lived counterparts, resolving the nature of these mysterious phenomena and realizing their promise as probes of cosmology and fundamental physics.

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“…All detected FRBs to date possess high DMs, which yield burst widths of ∼ 1 − 10 ms [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. These values of the DM are several times larger than the expected contribution from free electrons within the Milky Way [25,26], suggesting their origin is extragalactic (some authors, however, prefer a Galactic origin [27,28]). Proposed sources of extragalactic FRBs include merging neutron stars [29] or white dwarfs [30], as well as bursts from pulsars [31].…”

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confidence: 99%

Lensing of Fast Radio Bursts as a Probe of Compact Dark Matter

et al. 2016

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The possibility that part of the dark matter is made of massive compact halo objects (MACHOs) remains poorly constrained over a wide range of masses, and especially in the 20 − 100 M window. We show that strong gravitational lensing of extragalactic fast radio bursts (FRBs) by MACHOs of masses larger than ∼ 20 M would result in repeated FRBs with an observable time delay. Strong lensing of a FRB by a lens of mass ML induces two images, separated by a typical time delay ∼ few ×(ML/30 M ) milliseconds. Considering the expected FRB detection rate by upcoming experiments, such as CHIME, of 104 FRBs per year, we should observe from tens to hundreds of repeated bursts yearly, if MACHOs in this window make up all the dark matter. A null search for echoes with just 10 4 FRBs would constrain the fraction fDM of dark matter in MACHOs to fDM 0.08 for ML 20 M .Although observations indicate that dark matter accounts for a significant share of the energy density of our Universe [1], we do not know its composition. Longtime candidates to make up the dark matter are massive compact halo objects (MACHOs) [2]. They were originally proposed to be as light as 10 −7 M and as heavy as the first stars (∼ 10 3 M ) [3]. Over the years, different experiments have progressively constrained the fraction f DM of dark matter that can reside in MACHOs with a given mass, placing tight upper bounds over most of the vast range above. High-mass ( 100 M ) MACHOs, for example, are constrained by the fact that they would perturb wide stellar binaries in our Galaxy [4]. Meanwhile, lower-mass ( 20M ) MACHOs are effectively ruled out as the sole component of Galactic dark matter, as they would create artificial variability in stars, due to gravitational microlensing [5][6][7].However, there remains a window of masses between 20 and 100 M , where the constraints are weaker, and in which arguably all the cosmological dark matter could be in the form of MACHOs [6][7][8][9][10]. This is a particularly interesting window, as it has been recently argued in Ref.[11] that if primordial black holes (PBHs) [12,13] in the ∼ 30 M mass range are the constituents of dark matter, they form binaries in halos, coalesce, and emit observable gravitational waves, with an event rate consistent with the published LIGO detection [14].In this Letter we propose to use the strong lensing of fast radio bursts (FRBs) to probe MACHOs of masses 20 M , including PBHs, and either confirm that they make up the dark matter or close this window. FRBs are strong radio bursts with a very short duration, which makes them ideal as microlensing targets. Their temporal width is increased by the dispersion measure (DM), which measures the time delay of photons with different radio frequencies due to scattering by free electrons on their way to Earth. All detected FRBs to date possess high DMs, which yield burst widths of ∼ 1 − 10 ms [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. These values of the DM are several times larger than the expected contribution from free electrons within the Milky Way ...

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Fast radio bursts: the observational case for a Galactic origin

Cited by 36 publications

References 61 publications

A burst in a wind bubble and the impact on baryonic ejecta: high-energy gamma-ray flashes and afterglows from fast radio bursts and pulsar-driven supernova remnants

A burst in a wind bubble and the impact on baryonic ejecta: high-energy gamma-ray flashes and afterglows from fast radio bursts and pulsar-driven supernova remnants

Discovery of a Transient Gamma-Ray Counterpart to FRB 131104

Lensing of Fast Radio Bursts as a Probe of Compact Dark Matter

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