Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Li, D
• Wang, P
• Zhu, W W
• Zhang, B
• Zhang, X X
• Duan, R
• Zhang, Y K
• Feng, Y
• Tang, N Y
• Chatterjee, S
• Cordes, J M
• Cruces, M
• Dai, S
• Gajjar, V
• Hobbs, G
• Jin, C
• Kramer, M
• Lorimer, D R
• Miao, C C
• Niu, C H
• Niu, J R
• Pan, Z C
• Qian, L
• Spitler, L
• Werthimer, D
• Zhang, G Q
• Wang, F Y
• Xie, X Y
• Yue, Y L
• Zhang, L
• Zhi, Q J
• Zhu, Y

Titel

A bimodal burst energy distribution of a repeating fast radio burst source

Ist Teil von

• Nature (London), 2021-10, Vol.598 (7880), p.267-271

Ort / Verlag

England: Nature Publishing Group

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Link zum Volltext

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The event rate, energy distribution and time-domain behaviour of repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs) contain essential information regarding their physical nature and central engine, which are as yet unknown . As the first precisely localized source, FRB 121102 (refs. ) has been extensively observed and shows non-Poisson clustering of bursts over time and a power-law energy distribution . However, the extent of the energy distribution towards the fainter end was not known. Here we report the detection of 1,652 independent bursts with a peak burst rate of 122 h , in 59.5 hours spanning 47 days. A peak in the isotropic equivalent energy distribution is found to be approximately 4.8 × 10 erg at 1.25 GHz, below which the detection of bursts is suppressed. The burst energy distribution is bimodal, and well characterized by a combination of a log-normal function and a generalized Cauchy function. The large number of bursts in hour-long spans allows sensitive periodicity searches between 1 ms and 1,000 s. The non-detection of any periodicity or quasi-periodicity poses challenges for models involving a single rotating compact object. The high burst rate also implies that FRBs must be generated with a high radiative efficiency, disfavouring emission mechanisms with large energy requirements or contrived triggering conditions.