Constraining the Fast Radio Burst (FRB) properties using the detections at Parkes, ASKAP and CHIME

Siddhartha Bhattacharyya, Somnath Bharadwaj

Published 2019-03-29Version 1

We demonstrate how the FRB redshift and fluence distributions from the Parkes, ASKAP and CHIME telescopes can be used together to constrain the properties of the FRB population. Here we consider a simple model where all the FRBs have the same spectral index $\alpha$ and rest frame energy $E$ (specified in a fixed band $2128\;{\rm MHz}$ to $2848\;{\rm MHz}$). We find that the constraints on $(\alpha,E)$ depend on the scattering model for pulse broadening in the inter-galactic medium. For no scattering we find that there is a region of parameter space where the predictions are simultaneously consistent with the FRB redshift and fluence distributions at all three telescopes. The allowed $\alpha$ range is bounded by $-6.0\leq \alpha \leq-3.6$ and the allowed $E$ range is bounded by $1.79\times 10^{33}{\rm J} \leq E \leq 5.41\times 10^{33}{\rm J}$. Our analysis also rules out an empirical scattering model where the FRB pulse broadening in the IGM is predicted by extrapolating pulse broadening observed for pulsars in the ISM.