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Are repeating and one-off sources one population or several?

Asked 26 Oct 2026 by ·3 answers·0·0 following
Three answers, none aheadNone is ahead yet. See what would settle it.

Where it stands

Three answers have been proposed. None is ahead on the evidence yet. Three are still possible. Of the one narrower question under it, none is answered yet.

Why it matters

If every source repeats given enough time, the one-off question reduces to the repeater question; if not, there are at least two kinds of source⁠[1]. The CHIME catalogues give the first uniform test⁠[2]⁠[3].

Answers 3

Evidence: 2 for
Still possible
None of these.
Not tested enough to call either way
Evidence: none yet
Still possible
Evidence: 2 for
Still possible

History

  1. Caleb et al. puts forward: all sources repeat; apparent one-offs are repeaters whose other bursts have not been seen, and differences…
  2. Pleunis et al. puts forward: repeaters and one-off sources are physically different classes.
  3. CHIME/FRB Collaboration et al.: repeaters and apparent non-repeaters share sky positions and dispersion measures.For: All sources repeat; apparent one-offs are repeaters whose other bursts have not been seen, and differences…
  4. Pleunis et al.: repeater bursts are on average wider in time and narrower in bandwidth.For: Repeaters and one-off sources are physically different classes.
  5. Mankatwit et al.: a semi-supervised classifier flags 36 apparent one-off sources as repeater candidates.For: All sources repeat; apparent one-offs are repeaters whose other bursts have not been seen, and differences…
  6. An et al.: persistent radio sources surround some active repeaters but not the bright one-off FRB 20250316A.For: Repeaters and one-off sources are physically different classes.
  7. Asked on this site
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