Periodicity of a fast radio burst explained by transits of Trojan and Hildas asteroids orbiting a pulsar
Résumé
Context. Observation of fast radio bursts (FRBs) are rising very quickly with the advent of specialised instruments and surveys. Recently, it has been shown for the first time that some of them repeat quasi-periodically, with evidence of a P = 16.35 day period being reported in particular for FRB 180916.J0158+65.
Aims. We apply to FRB 180916.J0158+65 a model by which FRBs are caused by the interaction between a pulsar or magnetar wind with orbiting asteroid or planetoid-size companions forming so-called Alfven wings.
Methods. We use the properties of the 28 bursts collected by the CHIME/FRB collaboration over a span of 408 days in order to infer possible characteristics of asteroid swarms and pulsar wind at their origin. We perform parametric studies to explore the parameter space.
Results. We find a plausible configuration in which a young pulsar is orbited by a main companion with a period three times longer than apparent in the CHIME/FRB data, at 3P = 49 days. Asteroids responsible for FRBs are located in three dynamical swarms near the L3, L4 and L5 Lagrange points akin to the Hildas class of asteroids of the Solar system. In addition, asteroids could be present in the Trojan swarms at the L4 and L5 Lagrange points. We estimate that the presence of a few thousand asteroids is necessary to produce the observed burst rate.
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)
Loading...