Are FRBs emitted from rotating magnetospheres? Searching for periodicity in polarized bursts

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Rajwade, Kaustubh M., Karastergiou, Aris
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Rajwade, Kaustubh M.
Karastergiou, Aris
author_facet Rajwade, Kaustubh M.
Karastergiou, Aris
contents One of the potential sources of repeating Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) is a rotating magnetosphere of a compact object, as suggested by the similarities in the polarization properties of FRBs and radio pulsars. Attempts to measure an underlying period in the times of arrival of repeating FRBs have nevertheless been unsuccessful. To explain this lack of observed periodicity, it is often suggested that the line of sight towards the source must be sampling active parts of the emitting magnetosphere throughout the rotation of the compact object, i.e. has a large duty cycle, as can be the case in a neutron star with near-aligned magnetic and rotation axes. This may lead to apparently aperiodic bursts, however the polarization angle of the bursts should be tied to the rotational phase from which they occur. This is true for radio pulsars. We therefore propose a new test to identify a possible stable rotation period under the assumptions above, based on a periodogram of the measured polarization angle timeseries for repeating FRBs. We show that this test is highly sensitive when the duty cycle is large, where standard time-of-arrival periodicity searches fail. Therefore, we can directly test the hypothesis of repeating FRBs of magnetospheric origin with a stable rotation period. Both positive and negative results of the test applied to FRB data will provide important information.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_18176
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Are FRBs emitted from rotating magnetospheres? Searching for periodicity in polarized bursts
Rajwade, Kaustubh M.
Karastergiou, Aris
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
One of the potential sources of repeating Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) is a rotating magnetosphere of a compact object, as suggested by the similarities in the polarization properties of FRBs and radio pulsars. Attempts to measure an underlying period in the times of arrival of repeating FRBs have nevertheless been unsuccessful. To explain this lack of observed periodicity, it is often suggested that the line of sight towards the source must be sampling active parts of the emitting magnetosphere throughout the rotation of the compact object, i.e. has a large duty cycle, as can be the case in a neutron star with near-aligned magnetic and rotation axes. This may lead to apparently aperiodic bursts, however the polarization angle of the bursts should be tied to the rotational phase from which they occur. This is true for radio pulsars. We therefore propose a new test to identify a possible stable rotation period under the assumptions above, based on a periodogram of the measured polarization angle timeseries for repeating FRBs. We show that this test is highly sensitive when the duty cycle is large, where standard time-of-arrival periodicity searches fail. Therefore, we can directly test the hypothesis of repeating FRBs of magnetospheric origin with a stable rotation period. Both positive and negative results of the test applied to FRB data will provide important information.
title Are FRBs emitted from rotating magnetospheres? Searching for periodicity in polarized bursts
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.18176