No Arabic abstract
We report three new FRBs discovered by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), namely FRB 181017.J0036+11, FRB 181118 and FRB 181130, through the Commensal Radio Astronomy FAST Survey (CRAFTS). Together with FRB 181123 that was reported earlier, all four FAST-discovered FRBs share the same characteristics of low fluence ($leq$0.2 Jy ms) and high dispersion measure (DM, $>1000$ dmu), consistent with the anti-correlation between DM and fluence of the entire FRB population. FRB 181118 and FRB 181130 exhibit band-limited features. FRB 181130 is prominently scattered ($tau_ssimeq8$ ms) at 1.25 GHz. FRB 181017.J0036+11 has full-bandwidth emission with a fluence of 0.042 Jy ms, which is one of the faintest FRB sources detected so far. CRAFTS starts to built a new sample of FRBs that fills the region for more distant and fainter FRBs in the fluence-$rm DM_E$ diagram, previously out of reach of other surveys. The implied all sky event rate of FRBs is $1.24^{+1.94}_{-0.90} times 10^5$ sky$^{-1}$ day$^{-1}$ at the $95%$ confidence interval above 0.0146 Jy ms. We also demonstrate here that the probability density function of CRAFTS FRB detections is sensitive to the assumed intrinsic FRB luminosity function and cosmological evolution, which may be further constrained with more discoveries.
Fast radio bursts (FRB) are millisecond-duration radio pulses with apparent extragalactic origins. All but two of the FRBs have been discovered using the Parkes dish which employs multiple beams formed by an array of feed horns on its focal plane. In this paper, we show that (i) the preponderance of multiple-beam detections, and (ii) the detection rates for varying dish diameters, can be used to infer the index $alpha$ of the cumulative fluence distribution function (the log$N$-log$F$ function: $alpha=1.5$ for a non-evolving population in a Euclidean universe). If all detected FRBs arise from a single progenitor population, multiple-beam FRB detection rates from the Parkes telescope yield the constraint $0.52<alpha<1.0$ with $90$% confidence. Searches at other facilities with different dish sizes refine the constraint to $0.66<alpha<0.96$. Our results favor FRB searches with smaller dishes, because for $alpha<1$, the gain in field-of-view for a smaller dish is more important than the reduction in sensitivity. Further, our results suggest that (i) FRBs are not standard candles, and (ii) the distribution of distances to the detected FRBs is weighted towards larger distances. If FRBs are extragalactic, these results are consistent with a cosmological population, which would make FRBs excellent probes of the baryonic content and geometry of the Universe.
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are mysterious extragalactic radio signals. Revealing their origin is one of the central foci in modern astronomy. Previous studies suggest that occurrence rates of non-repeating and repeating FRBs could be controlled by the cosmic stellar-mass density (CSMD) and star formation-rate density (CSFRD), respectively. The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is one of the best future instruments to address this subject due to its high sensitivity and high-angular resolution. Here, we predict the number of FRBs to be detected with the SKA. In contrast to previous predictions, we estimate the detections of non-repeating and repeating FRBs separately, based on latest observational constraints on their physical properties including the spectral indices, FRB luminosity functions, and their redshift evolutions. We consider two cases of redshift evolution of FRB luminosity functions following either the CSMD or CSFRD. At $zgtrsim2$, $zgtrsim6$ and $zgtrsim10$, non-repeating FRBs will be detected with the SKA at a rate of $sim10^{4}$, $sim10^{2}$, and $sim10$ (sky$^{-1}$ day$^{-1}$), respectively, if their luminosity function follows the CSMD evolution. At $zgtrsim1$, $zgtrsim2$, and $zgtrsim4$, sources of repeating FRBs will be detected at a rate of $sim10^{3}$, $sim10^{2}$, and $lesssim10$ (sky$^{-1}$ day$^{-1}$), respectively, assuming that the redshift evolution of their luminosity function is scaled with the CSFRD. These numbers could change by about one order of magnitude depending on the assumptions on the CSMD and CSFRD. In all cases, abundant FRBs will be detected by the SKA, which will further constrain the luminosity functions and number density evolutions.
Fast Radios Bursts (FRBs) show large dispersion measures (DMs), suggesting an extragalactic location. We analyze the DMs of the 11 known FRBs in detail and identify steps as integer multiples of half the lowest DM found, 187.5cm$^{-3}$ pc, so that DMs occur in groups centered at 375, 562, 750, 937, 1125cm$^{-3}$ pc, with errors observed <5%. We estimate the likelhood of a coincidence as 5:10,000. We speculate that this could originate from a Galaxy population of FRBs, with Milky Way DM contribution as model deviations, and an underlying generator process that produces FRBs with DMs in discrete steps. However, we find that FRBs tend to arrive at close to the full integer second, like man-made perytons. If this holds, FRBs would also be man-made. This can be verified, or refuted, with new FRBs to be detected.
Polarimetric observations of Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are a powerful resource for better understanding these mysterious sources by directly probing the emission mechanism of the source and the magneto-ionic properties of its environment. We present a pipeline for analysing the polarized signal of FRBs captured by the triggered baseband recording system operating on the FRB survey of The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME/FRB). Using a combination of simulated and real FRB events, we summarize the main features of the pipeline and highlight the dominant systematics affecting the polarized signal. We compare parametric (QU-fitting) and non-parametric (rotation measure synthesis) methods for determining the Faraday rotation measure (RM) and find the latter method susceptible to systematic errors from known instrumental effects of CHIME/FRB observations. These errors include a leakage artefact that appears as polarized signal near $rm{RMsim 0 ; rad , m^{-2}}$ and an RM sign ambiguity introduced by path length differences in the systems electronics. We apply the pipeline to a bright burst previously reported by citet[FRB 20191219F;][]{Leung2021}, detecting an $mathrm{RM}$ of $rm{+6.074 pm 0.006 pm 0.050 ; rad , m^{-2}}$ with a significant linear polarized fraction ($gtrsim0.87$) and strong evidence for a non-negligible circularly polarized component. Finally, we introduce an RM search method that employs a phase-coherent de-rotation algorithm to correct for intra-channel depolarization in data that retain electric field phase information, and successfully apply it to an unpublished FRB, FRB 20200917A, measuring an $mathrm{RM}$ of $rm{-1294.47 pm 0.10 pm 0.05 ; rad , m^{-2}}$ (the second largest unambiguous RM detection from any FRB source observed to date).
Nature of dark energy remains unknown. Especially, to constrain the time variability of the dark-energy, a new, standardisable candle that can reach more distant Universe has been awaited. Here we propose a new distance measure using fast radio bursts (FRBs), which are a new emerging population of $sim$ ms time scale radio bursts that can reach high-$z$ in quantity. We show an empirical positive correlation between the time-integrated luminosity (L$_{ u}$) and rest-frame intrinsic duration ($w_{rm int,rest}$) of FRBs. The L$_{ u}-w_{rm int,rest}$ correlation is with a weak strength but statistically very significant, i.e., Pearson coefficient is $sim$ 0.5 with p-value of $sim$0.038, despite the smallness of the current sample. This correlation can be used to measure intrinsic luminosity of FRBs from the observed $w_{rm int,rest}$. By comparing the luminosity with observed flux, we measure luminosity distances to FRBs, and thereby construct the Hubble diagram. This FRB cosmology with the L$_{ u}-w_{rm int,rest}$ relation has several advantages over SNe Ia, Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB), and well-known FRB dispersion measure (DM)-$z$ cosmology; (i) access to higher redshift Universe beyond the SNe Ia, (ii) high event rate that is $sim$ 3 order of magnitude more frequent than GRBs, and (iii) it is free from the uncertainty from intergalactic electron density models, i.e., we can remove the largest uncertainty in the well-debated DM-$z$ cosmology of FRB. Our simulation suggests that the L$_{ u}-w_{rm int,rest}$ relation provides us with useful constraints on the time variability of the dark energy when the next generation radio telescopes start to find FRBs in quantity.