Repeating Fast Radio Bursts from Collapses of the Crust of a Strange Star

TL;DR

This paper proposes that repeating fast radio bursts originate from intermittent crust collapses of strange stars caused by accretion, explaining observed periodicities and potentially supporting the strange quark matter hypothesis.

Contribution

It introduces a novel model linking FRBs to crust collapses of strange stars induced by accretion, explaining their temporal behaviors and periodicities.

Findings

Explains FRB periodicity via disk instabilities.

Models accretion parameters consistent with observed 16-day cycle.

Suggests a link between FRBs and strange quark matter evidence.

Abstract

Strange stars (SSs) are compact objects made of deconfined quarks. It is hard to distinguish SSs from neutron stars as a thin crust composed of normal hadronic matter may exist and obscure the whole surface of the SS. Here we suggest that the intriguing repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs) are produced by the intermittent fractional collapses of the crust of an SS induced by refilling of accretion materials from its low-mass companion. The periodic/sporadic/clustered temporal behaviors of FRBs could be well understood in our scenario. Especially, the periodicity is attributed to the modulation of accretion rate through the disk instabilities. To account for a $\sim 16$-day periodicity of the repeating FRB source 180916.J0158+65, a Shakura-Sunyaev disk with a viscosity parameter of $\alpha \simeq 0.004$ and an accretion rate of $\simeq 3 \times 10^{16}$~g~s$^{-1}$ in the low state is invoked. Our scenario, if favored by future observations, will serve as indirect evidence for the strange quark matter hypothesis.