Cosmological Fast Radio Bursts from Binary White Dwarf Mergers

TL;DR

This paper proposes that binary white dwarf mergers are the source of cosmological fast radio bursts, explaining their properties and predicting possible associations with supernovae and X-ray disks, thus offering new insights into their origins and cosmology.

Contribution

It introduces a novel model linking binary white dwarf mergers to FRBs, explaining their characteristics and suggesting observational tests involving supernovae and X-ray disks.

Findings

The model explains FRB energetics, duration, and rate.

Some FRBs may be associated with Type Ia supernovae.

Future surveys could test the proposed scenario.

Abstract

Recently, Thornton et al. reported the detection of four fast radio bursts (FRBs). The dispersion measures indicate that the sources of these FRBs are at cosmological distance. Given the large full sky event rate ~ 10^4 sky^-1 day^-1, the FRBs are a promising target for multi-messenger astronomy. Here we propose double degenerate, binary white-dwarf (WD) mergers as the source of FRBs, which are produced by coherent emission from the polar region of a rapidly rotating, magnetized massive WD formed after the merger. The basic characteristics of the FRBs, such as the energetics, emission duration and event rate, can be consistently explained in this scenario. As a result, we predict that some FRBs can accompany type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) or X-ray debris disks. Simultaneous detection could test our scenario and probe the progenitors of SNe Ia, and moreover would provide a novel constraint on the cosmological parameters. We strongly encourage future SN and X-ray surveys that follow up FRBs.