TY - JOUR
T1 - FRB strength distribution challenges the cosmological principle
AU - Katz, J. I.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.
PY - 2017/11/21
Y1 - 2017/11/21
N2 - The distribution of fast radio burst (FRB) fluxes and fluences is characterized by a few very bright events and a deficiency of fainter events, compared to expectations for a homogeneous space-filling distribution. I define a metric to quantify this, and apply it to the 17 presently known Parkes FRB, products of a comparatively homogeneous search. With 98 per cent confidence, we reject the hypothesis of a homogeneous distribution in Euclidean space. Possible explanations include a reduction of fainter events by cosmological redshifts or evolution or a cosmologically local concentration of events. The former is opposed by the small value of the one known FRB redshift. The latter contradicts the Cosmological Principle, but may be explained if the brighter FRB originates in the Local Supercluster.
AB - The distribution of fast radio burst (FRB) fluxes and fluences is characterized by a few very bright events and a deficiency of fainter events, compared to expectations for a homogeneous space-filling distribution. I define a metric to quantify this, and apply it to the 17 presently known Parkes FRB, products of a comparatively homogeneous search. With 98 per cent confidence, we reject the hypothesis of a homogeneous distribution in Euclidean space. Possible explanations include a reduction of fainter events by cosmological redshifts or evolution or a cosmologically local concentration of events. The former is opposed by the small value of the one known FRB redshift. The latter contradicts the Cosmological Principle, but may be explained if the brighter FRB originates in the Local Supercluster.
KW - Large-scale structure of Universe
KW - Radio continuum: General
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85042556229
U2 - 10.1093/mnrasl/slx144
DO - 10.1093/mnrasl/slx144
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85042556229
SN - 1745-3925
VL - 472
SP - L85-L88
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
IS - 1
ER -