A Model of Fast Radio Bursts: Collisions Between Episodic Magnetic Blobs

Abstract

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are bright radio pulses from the sky with millisecond durations and Jansky-level flux densities. Their origins are still largely uncertain. Here we suggest a new model for FRBs. We argue that the collision of a white dwarf with a black hole can give birth to a transient accretion disk, from which powerful episodic magnetic blobs will be launched. The collision between two consecutive magnetic blobs can result in a catastrophic magnetic reconnection, which releases a large amount of free magnetic energy and forms a forward shock. The shock propagates through the cold magnetized plasma within the blob in the collision region, radiating through synchrotron maser mechanism, which is responsible for a non-repeating FRB signal. Our calculations show that the theoretical energetics, radiation frequency, duration timescale, and event rate can be well consistent with the observational characteristic of FRBs.

8 pages, 1 figure, final version, RAA (Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics), 2018, 18, 61