Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: We have discovered PSR J2108+5055, an extremely luminous but sporadic mode-changing rotating radio transient (RRAT), with a period of 0.495 s using the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment/Fast Radio Burst instrument (CHIME/FRB). We show that the brightest pulse from PSR J2108+5055 has a flux density of 3.1+/-1.0 kJy, corresponding to a spectral luminosity of (7.5+/-2.3)x10^23 erg s^-1 Hz^-1, assuming a dispersion-measure-derived distance of 1.6+/-0.3 kpc. We place an upper limit on the duty cycle of PSR J2108+5055 at 0.002% and measure a surface magnetic field of 5.8x10^11 G, a characteristic age of 1.2x10^7 yr, and a spindown luminosity of 2.2x10^32 erg s^-1. Using a simple model based on the Green Bank North Celestial Cap (GBNCC) survey, we place an upper limit on the number of PSR J2108+5055-like sources with similar peak flux densities in the GBNCC survey area of ~80 RRATs. We show that if PSR J2108+5055 were placed at the edge of the Local Group of galaxies, the Five-Hundred-Meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) would detect its brightest pulse. The second brightest pulse has a peak flux density of 1.5+/-0.7 kJy, and FAST would detect such a pulse out to ~1 Mpc, covering the inner Local Group, including Andromeda.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Dong, Fengqiu Adam, Main, Robert, Taylor, Jackson D., Andrew, Shion, Cassity, Alyssa, Chatterjee, Shami, Curtin, Alice P., Fonseca, Emmanuel, Gaensler, B. M., Hessels, Jason, Kaspi, Victoria, Khan, Afrokk, Künkel, Lars, Lazda, Mattias, Leung, Calvin, Masui, Kiyoshi W., Mckinven, Ryan, Ng, Mason, Pandhi, Ayush, Pearlman, Aaron B., Pleunis, Ziggy, Pollak, Alexander W., T., Sachin Pradeep E., Ransom, Scott M., Scholz, Paul, Shin, Kaitlyn, Smith, Kendrick, Stairs, Ingrid
Institutions: Trottier Space Institute at McGill, McGill University, West Virginia University, University of British Columbia, University of Toronto, University of California, Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, York University, Perimeter Institute
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, West Virginia Space Grant Consortium, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, McGill University, Space Telescope Science Institute, Government of Canada, European Commission, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Canada Excellence Research Chairs, Government of Canada, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, University of Toronto, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, McGill Space Institute, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies
Awards: Collaborative Research: Mapping the universe in neutral hydrogen with CHIME, G1979407794, G2614460161, G2667869601, Using fast radio bursts as astrophysical tools, G433322167, AstroFlash: probing the extremes of the Universe at high time and spatial resolution, G5180320897, G5433740808, G5539312340, G5622021303, G58316358, G6273510985, G6332097519, Strengthening Gravitational-Wave and Pulsar Science with the CHIME Telescope, G7542343701, Collaborative Research: Cosmology with CHIME
OpenAlex ID: W7204214183