Formation of periodic FRB in binary systems with eccentricity

Long-term periodicity in the rate of flares is observed for two repeating sources of fast radio bursts (FRBs). In this paper, we present a hydrodynamical modelling of a massive binary consisting of a magnetar and an early-type star. We model the interaction of the pulsar wind from the magnetar with an intense stellar wind. It is shown that only during a fraction of the orbital period, radio emission can escape the system. This explains the duty cycle of the two repeating FRB sources with periodic activity. The width of the transparency window depends on the eccentricity, stellar wind properties, and the viewing angle. To describe the properties of the known sources, it is necessary to assume large eccentricities >= 0.5. We apply the maser cyclotron mechanism of the radio emission generation to model spectral properties of the sources. The produced spectrum is not wide: Delta nu/nu similar to 0.2 and the typical frequency depends on the radius of the shock where the emission is generated. The shock radius changes along the orbit. This, together with changing parameters of the medium, allows us to explain the frequency drift during the phase of visibility. Frequency dependence of the degree of polarization at few GHz can be a consequence of a small-scale turbulence in the shocked stellar wind. It is much more difficult to explain huge (similar to 10(5) rad/m(2)) and variable value of the rotation measure observed for FRB 121102. We suggest that this can be explained if the supernova explosion, which produced the magnetar happened near a dense interstellar cloud with n similar to 100 cm(-3).

Automated summary

Long-term periodicity in the rate of flares is observed for two repeating sources of fast radio bursts (FRBs). A hydrodynamical modelling of a massive binary consisting of a magnetar and an early-type star reveals that only during a fraction of the orbital period, radio emission can escape the system, explaining the periodic activity of the two repeating FRB sources.