Spectro-temporal analysis of ultra-fast radio bursts using per-channel arrival times

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel spectro-temporal analysis technique for fast radio bursts that utilizes per-channel arrival times, enabling detailed characterization of complex morphologies and microsecond-scale features across numerous bursts from multiple sources.

Contribution

The paper presents an adaptable, Gaussian profile-based method for spectro-temporal analysis of FRBs, improving upon traditional techniques especially for complex and scattered burst morphologies.

Findings

Sub-burst slope law extends to ultra-FRBs

Ultra-FRBs form a distinct population in duration-frequency space

The technique successfully measures properties of hundreds of bursts

Abstract

Fast radio bursts (FRBs), especially those from repeating sources, exhibit a rich variety of morphologies in their dynamic spectra (or waterfalls). Characterizing these morphologies and spectro-temporal properties is a key strategy in investigating the underlying unknown emission mechanism of FRBs. This type of analysis has been typically accomplished using two-dimensional Gaussian techniques and the autocorrelation function (ACF) of the waterfall. These techniques are effective and precise at all duration scales, but can be limited in the presence of scattered tails, complex morphologies, or recently observed microshot forests. Here, we present a technique that involves the tagging of per-channel arrival times of an FRB to perform spectro-temporal measurements using a Gaussian profile model for each channel. While scattering and dispersion remain important and often dominating sources of uncertainty in measurements, this technique provides an adaptable and firm foundation for obtaining spectro-temporal properties from all types of FRB morphologies. We present measurements using this technique of several hundred bursts across 12 repeating sources, including over 400 bursts from the repeating sources FRB 20121102A, FRB 20220912A, and FRB 20200120E, all of which exhibit recently observed microsecond-long ultra-FRBs, as well as 143 multi-component drift rates. In addition to retrieving the known relationship between sub-burst slope and duration, we explore other correlations between burst properties. We find that the sub-burst slope law extends smoothly to ultra-FRBs, and that ultra-FRBs appear to form a distinct population in the duration-frequency relation.