Implications of fast radio bursts for superconducting cosmic strings

TL;DR

This paper explores the possibility that fast radio bursts originate from superconducting cosmic string loops, showing that their characteristics and distribution align with observational data, thus offering a new probe into cosmic string physics.

Contribution

It demonstrates that superconducting cosmic string bursts can explain the properties and redshift distribution of observed fast radio bursts, linking cosmological models with astrophysical phenomena.

Findings

FRB characteristics match SCS burst predictions

Redshift distribution of FRBs is consistent with SCS model

SCS loops responsible for FRBs are small and formed in the early universe

Abstract

Highly beamed, short-duration electromagnetic bursts could be produced by superconducting cosmic string (SCS) loops oscillating in cosmic magnetic fields. We demonstrated that the basic characteristics of SCS bursts such as the electromagnetic frequency and the energy release could be consistently exhibited in the recently discovered fast radio bursts (FRBs). Moreover, it is first showed that the redshift distribution of the FRBs can also be well accounted for by the SCS burst model. Such agreements between the FRBs and SCS bursts suggest that the FRBs could originate from SCS bursts and thus they could provide an effective probe to study SCSs. The obtained values of model parameters indicate that the loops generating the FRBs have a small length scale and they are mostly formed in the radiation-dominated cosmological epoch.