Issue |
A&A
Volume 690, October 2024
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A377 | |
Number of page(s) | 20 | |
Section | Extragalactic astronomy | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202450673 | |
Published online | 22 October 2024 |
Birth and evolution of fast radio bursts: Strong population-based evidence for a neutron-star origin
1
Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2
ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, Oude Hoogeveensedijk 4, 7991 PD Dwingeloo, The Netherlands
Received:
9
May
2024
Accepted:
23
July
2024
While the appeal of their extraordinary radio luminosity to our curiosity is undiminished, the nature of fast radio bursts (FRBs) has remained unclear. The challenge has been due in part to small sample sizes and limited understanding of telescope selection effects. We here present the first inclusion of the entire set of one-off FRBs from CHIME/FRB Catalog 1 in frbpoppy. Where previous work had to curate this data set, and fit for few model parameters, we have developed full multi-dimensional Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) capabilities for frbpoppy – the comprehensive, open-science FRB population synthesis code – that allow us to include all one-off CHIME bursts. Through the combination of these two advances we now find the best description of the real, underlying FRB population, with higher confidence than before. We show that 4 ± 3 × 103 one-off FRBs go off every second between Earth and z = 1; and we provide a mock catalog based on our best model, for straightforward inclusion in other studies. We investigate CHIME side-lobe detection fractions, and FRB luminosity characteristics, to show that some bright, local FRBs are still being missed. We find strong evidence that FRB birth rates evolve with the star formation rate of the Universe, even with a hint of a short (0.1−1 Gyr) delay time. The preferred contribution of the hosts to the FRB dispersion agrees with a progenitor birth location in the host disk. This population-based evidence solidly aligns with magnetar-like burst sources, and we conclude FRBs are emitted by neutron stars.
Key words: relativistic processes / methods: statistical / stars: magnetars / stars: neutron / radio continuum: general
© The Authors 2024
Open Access article, published by EDP Sciences, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This article is published in open access under the Subscribe to Open model. Subscribe to A&A to support open access publication.
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.