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Register a new userCharacterizing fast radio bursts through statistical cross-correlations
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Added by
Masoud Rafiei-Ravandi
Publication date
2019
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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Understanding the origin of fast radio bursts (FRBs) is a central unsolved problem in astrophysics that is severely hampered by their poorly determined distance scale. Determining the redshift distribution of FRBs appears to require arcsecond angular resolution, in order to associate FRBs with host galaxies. In this paper, we forecast prospects for determining the redshift distribution without host galaxy associations, by cross-correlating FRBs with a galaxy catalog such as the SDSS photometric sample. The forecasts are extremely promising: a survey such as CHIME/FRB that measures catalogs of $sim 10^3$ FRBs with few-arcminute angular resolution can place strong constraints on the FRB redshift distribution, by measuring the cross-correlation as a function of galaxy redshift $z$ and FRB dispersion measure $D$. In addition, propagation effects from free electron inhomogeneities modulate the observed FRB number density, either by shifting FRBs between dispersion measure (DM) bins or through DM-dependent selection effects. We show that these propagation effects, coupled with the spatial clustering between galaxies and free electrons, can produce FRB-galaxy correlations which are comparable to the intrinsic clustering signal. Such effects can be disentangled based on their angular and $(z, D)$ dependence, providing an opportunity to study not only FRBs but the clustering of free electrons.
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The column density of free electrons with a cosmological-scale depth, cosmic dispersion measures (DMs), is among the most interesting observables in future transient surveys at radio wavelengths. For future surveys of fast radio bursts (FRBs), we clarify information available from cosmic DMs through cross-correlation analyses of foreground dark matter haloes (hosting galaxies and galaxy clusters) with their known redshifts. With a halo-model approach, we predict that the cross-correlation with cluster-sized haloes is less affected by the details of gastrophysics, providing robust cosmological information. For less massive haloes, the cross-correlation at angular scales of $<10, mathrm{arcmin}$ is sensitive to gas expelled from the halo centre due to galactic feedback. Assuming $20000$ FRBs over $20000 , {rm deg}^2$ with a localisation error being 3 arcmin, we expect that the cross-correlation signal at halo masses of $10^{12}$-$10^{14}, M_odot$ can be measured with a level of $sim 1%$ precision in a redshift range of $0<z<1$. Such precise measurements enable to put a $1.5%$ level constraint on $sigma_8, (Omega_mathrm{M}/0.3)^{0.5}$ and a $3%$ level constraint on $(Omega_mathrm{b}/0.049)(h/0.67)(f_mathrm{e}/0.95)$ ($sigma_8$, $Omega_mathrm{M}$, $Omega_mathrm{b}$, $h$ and $f_mathrm{e}$ are the linear mass variance smoothed at $8, h^{-1}mathrm{Mpc}$, mean mass density, mean baryon density, the present-day Hubble parameter and fraction of free electrons in cosmic baryons today), whereas the gas-to-halo mass relation in galaxies and clusters can be constrained with a level of $10%$-$20%$. Furthermore the cross-correlation analyses can break the degeneracy among $Omega_mathrm{b}$, $h$ and $f_mathrm{e}$, inherent in the DM-redshift relation.
Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs), characterized by strong bursts of radiation intensity at radio wavelengths lasting on the order of a millisecond, have yet to be firmly associated with a family, or families, of astronomical sources. It follows that despite the large number of proposed models no well-defined physical process has been identified to explain this phenomenon. In this paper, we demonstrate how Dickes superradiance, for which evidence has recently been found in the interstellar medium, can account for the characteristics associated to FRBs. Our analysis and modelling of previously detected FRBs suggest they could originate from regions in many ways similar to those known to harbor masers or megamasers, and result from the coherent radiation emanating from populations of molecules associated with large-scale entangled quantum mechanical states. We estimate this entanglement to involve as many as ~10^(30) to ~10^(32) molecules over distances spanning 100 to 1000 AU.
We explore a novel search strategy for dark matter in the form of massive compact halo objects (MACHOs) such as primordial black holes or dense mini-halos in the mass range from $10^{-4}$ to 0.1 solar masses. These objects can gravitationally lens the signal of fast radio bursts (FRBs), producing a characteristic interference pattern in the frequency spectrum, similar to the previously studied femtolensing signal in gamma ray burst spectra. Unlike traditional searches using microlensing, FRB lensing will probe the abundance of MACHOs at cosmological distance scales (~Gpc) rather than just their distribution in the neighborhood of the Milky Way. The method is thus particularly relevant for dark mini-halos, which may be inaccessible to microlensing due to their finite spatial extent or tidal disruption in galaxies. We find that the main complication in FRB lensing will be interstellar scintillation in the FRBs host galaxy and in the Milky Way. Scintillation is difficult to quantify because it heavily depends on turbulence in the interstellar medium, which is poorly understood. We show that, nevertheless, for realistic scintillation parameters, FRB lensing can set competitive limits on compact dark matter object, and we back our findings with explicit simulations.
We explore the possibility that the Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are powered by magnetic reconnection in magnetars, triggered by Axion Quark Nugget (AQN) dark matter. In this model, the magnetic reconnection is ignited by the shock wave which develops when the nuggets Mach number $M gg 1$. These shock waves generate very strong and very short impulses expressed in terms of pressure $Delta p/psim M^2$ and temperature $Delta T/Tsim M^2$ in the vicinity of (would be) magnetic reconnection area. We find that the proposed mechanism produces a coherent emission which is consistent with current data, in particular the FRB energy requirements, the observed energy distribution, the frequency range and the burst duration. Our model allows us to propose additional tests which future data will be able to challenge.
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are very short and bright transients visible over extragalactic distances. The radio pulse undergoes dispersion caused by free electrons along the line of sight, most of which are associated with the large-scale structure (LSS). The total dispersion measure therefore increases with the line of sight and provides a distance estimate to the source. We present the first measurement of the Hubble constant using the dispersion measure -- redshift relation of FRBs with identified host counterpart and corresponding redshift information. A sample of nine currently available FRBs yields a constraint of $H_0 = 62.3 pm 9.1 ,rm{km} ,rm{s}^{-1},rm{Mpc}^{-1}$, accounting for uncertainty stemming from the LSS, host halo and Milky Way contributions to the observed dispersion measure. The main current limitation is statistical, and we estimate that a few hundred events with corresponding redshifts are sufficient for a per cent measurement of $H_0$. This is a number well within reach of ongoing FRB searches. We perform a forecast using a realistic mock sample to demonstrate that a high-precision measurement of the expansion rate is possible without relying on other cosmological probes. FRBs can therefore arbitrate the current tension between early and late time measurements of $H_0$ in the near future.
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