A Possible Connection between Fast Radio Bursts and Gamma-Ray Bursts
Abstract
The physical nature of fast radio bursts (FRBs), a new type of cosmological transient discovered recently, is not known. It has been suggested that FRBs can be produced when a spinning supra-massive neutron star loses centrifugal support and collapses to a black hole. Here, we suggest that such implosions can happen in supra-massive neutron stars shortly (hundreds to thousands of seconds) after their births, and an observational signature of such implosions may have been observed in the X-ray afterglows of some long and short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). Within this picture, a small fraction of FRBs would be physically connected to GRBs. We discuss possible multi-wavelength electromagnetic signals and gravitational wave signals that might be associated with FRBs, and propose an observational campaign to unveil the physical nature of FRBs. In particular, we strongly encourage a rapid radio follow-up observation of GRBs starting from 100 s after a GRB trigger.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- January 2014
- DOI:
- 10.1088/2041-8205/780/2/L21
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1310.4893
- Bibcode:
- 2014ApJ...780L..21Z
- Keywords:
-
- gamma-ray burst: general;
- stars: black holes;
- stars: neutron;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
- E-Print:
- ApJL, in press. Title shortened following the suggestion of ApJL. A discussion on possible detection of FRBs following GRBs by Bannister et al. (2012, ApJ, 757, 38) is added