FRB-periodicity: mild pulsars in tight O/B-star binaries

Abstract

Periodicities observed in two Fast Radio Burst (FRB) sources (16 days in FRB 180916.J0158+65 and 160 days in FRB 121102) are consistent with that of tight, stellar mass binary systems. In the case of FRB 180916.J0158+65 the primary is an early OB-type star with mass loss rate $\dot{M} \sim 10^{-8}- 10^{-7} M_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$, and the secondary a neutron star. The observed periodicity is not intrinsic to the FRB's source, but is due to the orbital phase-dependent modulation of the absorption conditions in the massive star's wind. The observed relatively narrow FRB activity window implies that the primary's wind dynamically dominates that of the pulsar, $\eta = L_{sd}/(\dot{M} v_w c) \leq 1$, where $L_{sd} $ is pulsar spin-down, $\dot{M}$ is the primary's wind mass loss rate and $v_w$ is its velocity. The condition $\eta \leq 1$ requires mildly powerful pulsar with $L_{sd} \lesssim 10^{37}$ erg $s^{-1}$. The observations are consistent with magnetically-powered radio emission originating in the magnetospheres of strongly magnetized neutron stars, the classical magnetars.