FAST RADIO BURSTS FROM THE INSPIRAL OF DOUBLE NEUTRON STARS

Journal Article · Sun May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8205/822/1/L7· OSTI ID:22654342

Wang, Jie-Shuang; Yang, Yuan-Pei; Dai, Zi-Gao; Wang, Fa-Yin ^[1]; Wu, Xue-Feng ^[2]

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1. School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093 (China)
2. Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008 (China)

In this Letter, we propose that a fast radio burst (FRB) could originate from the magnetic interaction between double neutron stars (NSs) during their final inspiral within the framework of a unipolar inductor model. In this model, an electromotive force is induced on one NS to accelerate electrons to an ultra-relativistic speed instantaneously. We show that coherent curvature radiation from these electrons moving along magnetic field lines in the magnetosphere of the other NS is responsible for the observed FRB signal, that is, the characteristic emission frequency, luminosity, duration, and event rate of FRBs can be well understood. In addition, we discuss several implications of this model, including double-peaked FRBs and possible associations of FRBs with short-duration gamma-ray bursts and gravitational-wave events.

• OSTI ID: 22654342
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 822, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
BINARY STARS
COSMIC GAMMA BURSTS
ELECTROMOTIVE FORCE
ELECTRONS
EMISSION
GAMMA RADIATION
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
INTERACTIONS
LUMINOSITY
MAGNETIC FIELDS
NEUTRON STARS
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
SOLAR RADIO BURSTS
SOLENOIDS
VELOCITY