Statistical properties magnetar bursts and FRB 121102

TL;DR

This study analyzes the statistical properties of magnetar bursts and compares them with the repeating FRB 121102, suggesting a magnetar origin for the FRB based on similar distribution patterns and high magnetic field requirements.

Contribution

It provides new statistical analysis of magnetar bursts and links their properties to the repeating FRB 121102, proposing a magnetar as the central engine.

Findings

Magnetar burst fluence distributions follow power-law functions.

Burst durations also exhibit power-law distributions.

FRB 121102 shares similar statistical properties with magnetar bursts.

Abstract

In this paper, we present statistics of soft gamma repeater (SGR) bursts from SGR J1550-5418, SGR 1806-20 and SGR 1900+14 by adding new bursts from K{\i}rm{\i}z{\i}bayrak et al. (2017) detected with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). We find that the fluence distributions of magnetar bursts are well described by power-law functions with indices 1.84, 1.68, and 1.65 for SGR J1550-5418, SGR 1806-20 and SGR 1900+14, respectively. The duration distributions of magnetar bursts also show power-law forms. Meanwhile, the waiting time distribution can be described by a non-stationary Poisson process with an exponentially growing occurrence rate. These distributive features indicate that magnetar bursts can be regarded as a self-organizing critical process. We also compare these distributions with the repeating FRB 121102. The statistical properties of repeating FRB 121102 are similar with magentar bursts, combing with the large required magnetic filed ($B\geq 10^{14}$G) of neutron star for FRB 121102, which indicates that the central engine of FRB 121102 may be a magnetar.