Models of fast radio bursts at cosmological distances
Abstract
Fast radio bursts are isolated radio pulses of high amplitude, with a frequency / time delay relation that can be interpreted as the dispersion measure (DM) of a source at cosmological distances (several hundreds of Mpc). Up to 2015, the only known FRBs all had different locations on the sky, and different DM. Many theoretical explanations of FRBs have been proposed. Some of them are associated to unique cataclysmic events, others are compatible with the repetition of bursts from the same source. The recent publication of the repeating FRB 121102 shows that at least some of the FRB must be compatible with non-cataclysmic events. A model based on the interaction of a highly relativitic pulsar wind with a body orbiting the pulsar (planet, big asteroid, white dwarf) could explain FRBs. It is briefly compared with other models of repeating FRBs.
- Publication:
-
SF2A-2016: Proceedings of the Annual meeting of the French Society of Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- December 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016sf2a.conf...83M
- Keywords:
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- fast radio bursts;
- pulsars;
- wind;
- cyclotron maser