Propagation Diagnostics of Supernova Remnant Environments around Young Repeating Fast Radio Bursts. I. Hydrodynamic Evolution of the Source-local Dispersion Measure
astro-ph.HE
Submitted: 2026-08-02
Updated: 2026-09-30
Comments: 21 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables. Submitted to The Astrophysical Journal
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The gist: Repeating fast radio bursts may reside in young supernova remnant (SNR) environments whose evolving plasma contributes to the observed dispersion measure (DM).
Terminology
Abstract
Repeating fast radio bursts may reside in young supernova remnant (SNR) environments whose evolving plasma contributes to the observed dispersion measure (DM). We use two-dimensional axisymmetric hydrodynamic simulations to study the interaction between a continuous anisotropic wind from a young neutron star and homologously expanding supernova ejecta. We follow the evolution to approximately 160 yr and calculate the source-local DM along different viewing directions, using a passive tracer to separate wind and non-wind contributions. In the fiducial model, the strongly polar-focused wind inflates a low-density cavity, while the swept-up shell remains broadly rounded and the DM shows moderate angular variation. The DM is dominated by ejecta and swept-up non-wind material. The solid-angle-averaged ambient-subtracted excess DM declines throughout the evolution, approximately following t age-2 during the first several tens of years and becoming modestly steeper later. Variations in wind and ejecta parameters modify the normalization, early evolution, and viewing-angle dependence, but the angle-averaged DM declines in all models, while different bipolar wind profiles produce similar long-term evolution. For FRB 20190520B, the fiducial model reaches a decline rate comparable to the source-frame value inferred from observations at approximately 20 yr, when the mean excess DM is approximately 1.8 times 10 squared pc cm-3. Thus, such a young environment can retain a substantial electron column while producing a rapid secular decrease. Repeater diversity suggests that SNR-driven expansion may coexist with additional time-dependent plasma structures or ionization changes.
Sources
- Discovery of 30 Repeating Fast Radio Burst Sources and Uniform Population Statistics of 80 Repeating Sources from CHIME/FRB
- Revisiting FRB 20121102A: milliarcsecond localisation and a decreasing dispersion measure
- A unified model of active repeating fast radio bursts associated with persistent radio sources
- Decadal evolution of a repeating fast radio burst source
- The Persistent Radio Sources and Multi-wavelength Counterparts of Fast Radio Bursts in Massive Binary Systems
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