FAST RADIO BURSTS AND RADIO TRANSIENTS FROM BLACK HOLE BATTERIES

Journal Article · Tue Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 2015 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/814/2/L20· OSTI ID:22518675

Mingarelli, Chiara M. F. ^[1]; Levin, Janna ^[2]; Lazio, T. Joseph W. ^[3]

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1. TAPIR, MC 350-17, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
2. Institute for Strings, Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (ISCAP), Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 (United States)
3. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)

Most black holes (BHs) will absorb a neutron star (NS) companion fully intact without tidal disruption, suggesting the pair will remain dark to telescopes. Even without tidal disruption, electromagnetic (EM) luminosity is generated from the battery phase of the binary when the BH interacts with the NS magnetic field. Originally, the luminosity was expected to be in high-energy X-rays or gamma-rays, however, we conjecture that some of the battery power is emitted in the radio bandwidth. While the luminosity and timescale are suggestive of fast radio bursts (FRBs; millisecond-scale radio transients) NS–BH coalescence rates are too low to make these a primary FRB source. Instead, we propose that the transients form a FRB sub-population, distinguishable by a double peak with a precursor. The rapid ramp-up in luminosity manifests as a precursor to the burst which is 20%–80% as luminous given 0.5 ms timing resolution. The main burst arises from the peak luminosity before the merger. The post-merger burst follows from the NS magnetic field migration to the BH, causing a shock. NS–BH pairs are especially desirable for ground-based gravitational wave (GW) observatories since the pair might not otherwise be detected, with EM counterparts greatly augmenting the scientific leverage beyond the GW signal. The EM signal’s ability to break degeneracies in the parameters encoded in the GW and probe the NS magnetic field strength is quite valuable, yielding insights into open problems in NS magnetic field decay.

• OSTI ID: 22518675
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 814; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
BLACK HOLES
COALESCENCE
GAMMA RADIATION
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
LUMINOSITY
MAGNETIC FIELDS
NEUTRON STARS
PRECURSOR
PROBES
PULSARS
RESOLUTION
TELESCOPES
TRANSIENTS
X RADIATION