Radiation forces constrain the FRB mechanism

Abstract

We provide constraints on fast radio burst (FRB) models by careful considerations of radiation forces associated with these powerful transients. We find that the induced Compton scatterings of the coherent radiation by electrons/positrons accelerate particles to very large Lorentz factors (LFs) in and around the source of this radiation. This severely restricts those models for FRBs that invoke relativistic shocks and maser-type instabilities at distances less than about 10¹³ cm of the neutron star. Radiation travelling upstream, in these models, forces particles to move away from the shock with an LF larger than the LF of the shock front. This suspends the photon generation process after it has been operating for less than ∼0.1 ms (observer frame duration). We show that masers operating in shocks at distances larger than 10¹³ cm cannot simultaneously account for the burst duration of 1 ms or more and the observed ∼GHz frequencies of FRBs without requiring an excessive energy budget (>10⁴⁶ erg); the energy is not calculated by imposing any efficiency consideration, or other details, for the maser mechanism, but is entirely the result of ensuring that particle acceleration by induced Compton forces upstream of the shock front does not choke off the maser process. For the source to operate more or less continuously for a few ms, it should be embedded in a strong magnetic field – cyclotron frequency ≫ wave frequency – so that radiation forces do not disperse the plasma and shut off the engine.