Energy functions of fast radio bursts derived from the first CHIME/FRB catalogue

TL;DR

This study analyzes the energy functions of non-repeating fast radio bursts from the CHIME catalogue, revealing their evolution with redshift and suggesting old stellar populations as likely progenitors.

Contribution

It provides the first large-sample analysis of FRB energy functions using the $V_{max}$ method without prior evolution assumptions.

Findings

Energy functions show Schechter-like shapes at z<1.

FRB rates decrease with redshift similar to cosmic stellar-mass density.

Star-formation rate scenario is statistically rejected as a primary driver.

Abstract

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are mysterious millisecond pulses in radio, most of which originate from distant galaxies. Revealing the origin of FRBs is becoming central in astronomy. The redshift evolution of the FRB energy function, i.e., the number density of FRB sources as a function of energy, provides important implications for the FRB progenitors. Here we show the energy functions of FRBs selected from the recently released Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) catalogue using the $V_{\rm max}$ method. The $V_{\rm max}$ method allows us to measure the redshift evolution of the energy functions as it is without any prior assumption on the evolution. We use a homogeneous sample of 164 non-repeating FRB sources, which are about one order of magnitude larger than previously investigated samples. The energy functions of non-repeating FRBs show Schechter function-like shapes at $z\lesssim1$. The energy functions and volumetric rates of non-repeating FRBs decrease towards higher redshifts similar to the cosmic stellar-mass density evolution: there is no significant difference between the non-repeating FRB rate and cosmic stellar-mass density evolution with a 1\% significance threshold, whereas the cosmic star-formation rate scenario is rejected with a more than 99\% confidence level. Our results indicate that the event rate of non-repeating FRBs is likely controlled by old populations rather than young populations which are traced by the cosmic star-formation rate density. This suggests old populations such as old neutron stars and black holes as more likely progenitors of non-repeating FRBs.