What produces most of the one-off fast radio bursts?
Most likely: magnetars or other neutron stars formed late, by mergers of neutron stars or white dwarfs or by the collapse…Ahead on the evidence, not yet confirmed. It needs two reviews to be accepted.
Where it stands
Five answers have been proposed. Magnetars or other neutron stars formed late, by mergers of neutron stars or white dwarfs or by the collapse… leads, with evidence 2 for, 1 against: partly supported by its tests. Four are still possible. Of the two narrower questions under it, none is answered yet.
Why it matters
Most catalogued sources have been seen only once[1]. The Galactic magnetar burst proved that magnetars can make FRB-like bursts[2], but repeaters in old stellar populations[3][4] and population studies[5] show that young magnetars cannot be the whole answer. Which engines make the one-offs decides what FRBs tell us about stellar death and compact objects.
Answers 5
History
- Lorimer et al. puts forward: truly single events that destroy or transform their source, such as compact-object mergers or collapses.
- Lorimer et al.: the first burst did not repeat in 90 hours, and its discoverers proposed a singular event such as a supernova…For: Truly single events that destroy or transform their source, such as compact-object mergers or collapses.
- Spitler et al. puts forward: young magnetars born in core-collapse supernovae of massive stars.
- Spitler et al.: repeaters prove that at least some sources survive their bursts.Against: Truly single events that destroy or transform their source, such as compact-object mergers or collapses.
- Bochenek et al.: a Galactic magnetar produced a burst within a factor of about 40 of the weakest extragalactic FRB energies.For: Young magnetars born in core-collapse supernovae of massive stars.
- CHIME/FRB Collaboration et al.: a 16.35-day activity cycle in FRB 180916.J0158+65 suggests orbital or precessional modulation.For: Accreting compact binaries, such as luminous X-ray binaries, rather than isolated magnetars.
- Eftekhari et al. puts forward: accreting compact binaries, such as luminous X-ray binaries, rather than isolated magnetars.
- Zhou et al.: the redshift distribution of Catalog 1 bursts is significantly delayed relative to star formation.Against: Young magnetars born in core-collapse supernovae of massive stars.
- An et al.: fRB 20250316A has no persistent radio source to limits three orders of magnitude below active repeaters,…Against: Young magnetars born in core-collapse supernovae of massive stars.
- Nimmo et al.: scintillation and a pulsar-like polarisation swing place the emission of one-off FRB 20221022A in a…For: Young magnetars born in core-collapse supernovae of massive stars.
- Eftekhari et al.: both of these old-population sources are repeaters, so their bearing on one-off bursts is indirect.Against: Magnetars or other neutron stars formed late, by mergers of neutron stars or white dwarfs or by the collapse…
- Eftekhari et al.: fRB 20240209A lies in a quiescent elliptical galaxy with a stellar age of about 11 billion years.For: Magnetars or other neutron stars formed late, by mergers of neutron stars or white dwarfs or by the collapse…
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