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Main Authors: Kumar, Pawan, Qu, Yuanhong, Zhang, Bing
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.01266
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author Kumar, Pawan
Qu, Yuanhong
Zhang, Bing
author_facet Kumar, Pawan
Qu, Yuanhong
Zhang, Bing
contents Observations find that some fast radio bursts (FRBs) have extremely narrow-band spectra, i.e., $Δν/ν_0 \ll 1$. We show that when the angular size of the emission region is larger than the Doppler beaming angle, the observed spectral width ($Δν/ν_0$) exceeds 0.58 due to the high latitude effects for a source outside the magnetosphere, even when the spectrum in the source's comoving frame is monochromatic. The angular size of the source for magnetospheric models of FRBs can be smaller than the Doppler beaming angle, in which case this geometric effect does not influence the observed bandwidth. We discuss various propagation effects to determine if any could transform a broad-spectrum radio pulse into a narrow-spectrum signal at the observer's location. We find that plasma lensing and scintillation can result in a narrow bandwidth in the observed spectrum. However, the likelihood of these phenomena being responsible for the narrow observed spectra with $Δν/ν_0 < 0.58$ in the fairly large observed sample of FRBs is exceedingly small.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2406_01266
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Origins of Narrow Spectra of Fast Radio Bursts
Kumar, Pawan
Qu, Yuanhong
Zhang, Bing
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Observations find that some fast radio bursts (FRBs) have extremely narrow-band spectra, i.e., $Δν/ν_0 \ll 1$. We show that when the angular size of the emission region is larger than the Doppler beaming angle, the observed spectral width ($Δν/ν_0$) exceeds 0.58 due to the high latitude effects for a source outside the magnetosphere, even when the spectrum in the source's comoving frame is monochromatic. The angular size of the source for magnetospheric models of FRBs can be smaller than the Doppler beaming angle, in which case this geometric effect does not influence the observed bandwidth. We discuss various propagation effects to determine if any could transform a broad-spectrum radio pulse into a narrow-spectrum signal at the observer's location. We find that plasma lensing and scintillation can result in a narrow bandwidth in the observed spectrum. However, the likelihood of these phenomena being responsible for the narrow observed spectra with $Δν/ν_0 < 0.58$ in the fairly large observed sample of FRBs is exceedingly small.
title The Origins of Narrow Spectra of Fast Radio Bursts
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.01266