INFERENCES FROM THE DISTRIBUTIONS OF FAST RADIO BURST PULSE WIDTHS, DISPERSION MEASURES, AND FLUENCES

The widths, dispersion measures (DMs), dispersion indices, and fluences of Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) impose coupled constraints that all models must satisfy. The non-monotonic dependence of burst widths (after deconvolution of instrumental effects) on DMs excludes the intergalactic medium as the location of scattering that broadens the FRBs in time. Temporal broadening far greater than that of pulsars at similar high Galactic latitudes implies that scattering occurs close to the sources where high densities and strong turbulence or heterogeneity are plausible. FRB energetics are consistent with supergiant pulses from young, fast, high-field pulsars at cosmological distances. The distribution of FRB DMs is: (1) inconsistent with that of expanding clouds (such as SNRs); (2) inconsistent with space-limited source populations (such as the local Supercluster); and (3) consistent with intergalactic dispersion of a homogeneous source population at cosmological distances. Finally, the FRB log N-log S relation also indicates a cosmological distribution aside from the anomalously bright Lorimer burst.