Are the distributions of Fast Radio Burst properties consistent with a cosmological population?

TL;DR

This study uses Monte Carlo simulations to test if observed Fast Radio Burst properties align with a cosmological population model, analyzing their dispersion, fluences, and other characteristics.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive simulation framework to compare observed FRB data with cosmological population models, assessing their consistency.

Findings

At least 50 FRBs are needed to distinguish density evolution models.

Observed properties are broadly consistent with a cosmological population.

Statistical methods can differentiate between constant and evolving FRB densities.

Abstract

High time resolution radio surveys over the last few years have discovered a population of millisecond-duration transient bursts called Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs), which remain of unknown origin. FRBs exhibit dispersion consistent with propagation through a cold plasma and dispersion measures indicative of an origin at cosmological distances. In this paper we perform Monte Carlo simulations of a cosmological population of FRBs, based on assumptions consistent with observations of their energy distribution, their spatial density as a function of redshift and the properties of the interstellar and intergalactic media. We examine whether the dispersion measures, fluences, inferred redshifts, signal-to-noises and effective widths of known FRBs are consistent with a cosmological population. Statistical analyses indicate that at least 50 events at Parkes are required to distinguish between a constant co-moving FRB density, and a FRB density that evolves with redshift like the cosmological star formation rate density.