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Although the physical origin of fast radio bursts (FRBs) remains unknown, magnetars are the most likely candidates. The polarization properties of FRBs offer crucial insights into their origins and radiation mechanisms. Significant circular polarization (CP) has been observed in some FRBs. CP may result from intrinsic radiation or propagation effects, both within and outside the magnetosphere. Recent observations indicate that polarization properties of FRB 20201124A can change over short timescales (about tens of milliseconds), challenging models that attribute CP to out-of-magnetosphere emission and propagation. Additionally, some magnetospheric radiation models predict that bursts with high CP produced by off-axis emission will be systematically fainter, which contradicts the observations. We propose that CP arises from magnetospheric propagation effects caused by relativistic plasma. We identify the conditions under which high CP occurs, finding it to be rare. Moreover, our model accounts for the more commonly observed low CP and the varying handedness of CP., Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures, 1 table, submitted to AAS Journals

We report the first detection of polarization angle (PA) orthogonal jumps, a phenomenon previously only observed from radio pulsars, from a fast radio burst (FRB) source FRB 20201124A. We find three cases of orthogonal jumps in over two thousand bursts, all resembling those observed in pulsar single pulses. We propose that the jumps are due to the superposition of two orthogonal emission modes that could only be produced in a highly magnetized plasma, and they are caused by the line of sight sweeping across a rotating magnetosphere. The shortest jump timescale is of the order of one-millisecond, which hints that the emission modes come from regions smaller than the light cylinder of most pulsars or magnetars. This discovery provides convincing evidence that FRB emission originates from the complex magnetosphere of a magnetar, suggesting an FRB emission mechanism that is analogous to radio pulsars despite a huge luminosity difference between two types of objects., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, accepted by APJL

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration flashes with unknown origins. Its formation rate is crucial for unveiling physical origins. However, the luminosity and formation rate are degenerated when directly fitting the redshift distribution of FRBs. In contrast to previous forward-fitting methods, we use the Lynden-Bell's $c^{-}$ method to derive luminosity function and formation rate of FRBs without any assumptions. Using the non-repeating FRBs from the first CHIME/FRB catalog, we find a relatively strong luminosity evolution, and luminosity function can be fitted by a broken power-law model with a break at $1.33\times10^{41}\ \mathrm{erg}\ \mathrm{s}^{-1}$. The formation rate declines rapidly as $(1+z)^{-4.9\pm0.3}$ with a local rate $1.13\times10^4\ \mathrm{Gpc}^{-3}\ \mathrm{yr}^{-1}$. This monotonic decrease is similar to the rate of short gamma-ray bursts. After comparing it with star formation rate and stellar mass density, we conclude that the old populations including neutron stars and black holes, are closely related to the origins of FRBs. Monte Carlo simulations are used to test our results. The distributions of mock sample are consistent with the observational data., Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, submitted to AAS journal

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrumnet (DESI) collaboration recently released the first year data of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs). Basing on the five different tracers, the cosmological constraint shows a hint of deviation from the standard $\Lambda$CDM model. In this letter, We combine the DESI BAOs with other cosmic probes to constrain the evolution of Hubble constant as a function of redshift in flat $\Lambda$CDM model. The non-parametric method is used to estimate the value of Hubble constant at different redshift bins. The correlation among different bins are removed by diagonalizing the covariance matrix. The joint data sample demonstrate a decreasing trend of Hubble constant with a significance of $8.6 \sigma$, which can naturally resolve the Hubble tension. It may be due to dynamical dark energy or modified gravity., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, submitted to AAS journal

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are luminous millisecond-duration radio pulses with extragalactic origin, which were discovered more than a decade ago. Despite the numerous samples, the physical origin of FRBs remains poorly understood. FRBs have been thought to originate from young magnetars or accreting compact objects (COs). Massive stars or COs are predicted to be embedded in the accretion disks of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). The dense disk absorbs FRBs severely, making them difficult to observe. However, progenitors ejecta or outflow feedback from the accreting COs interact with the disk material to form a cavity. The existence of the cavity can reduce the absorption by the dense disk materials, making FRBs escape. Here we investigate the production and propagation of FRBs in AGN disks and find that the AGN environments lead to the following unique observational properties, which can be verified in future observation. First, the dense material in the disk can cause large dispersion measure (DM) and rotation measure (RM). Second, the toroidal magnetic field in the AGN disk can cause Faraday conversion. Third, during the shock breakout, DM and RM show non-power-law evolution patterns over time. Fourth, for accreting-powered models, higher accretion rates lead to more bright bursts in AGN disks, accounting for up to 1% of total bright repeating FRBs., Comment: 21 pages, 14 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are transient radio signals with millisecond-duration, large dispersion measure (DM) and extremely high brightness temperature. Among them, FRB 20180916B has been found to have a 16-day periodically modulated activity. However, the physical origin of the periodicity is still a mystery. Here, we utilize the comprehensive observational data to diagnose the periodic models. We find that the ultra-long rotation model is the most probable one for the periodic activity. However, this model cannot reproduce the observed rotation measure (RM) variations. We propose a self-consistent model, i.e., a massive star binary containing a slowly rotational neutron star and a massive star with large mass loss, which can naturally accommodate the wealth of observational features for FRB 20180916B. In this model, the RM variation is periodic, which can be tested by future observations., Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in ApJL

The cosmological principle is fundamental to the standard cosmological model. It assumes that the Universe is homogeneous and isotropic on very large scales. As the basic assumption, it must stand the test of various observations. In this work, using the region fitting (RF) method, we mapped the all-sky distribution of cosmological parameters ($\Omega_{m}$ and $H_{0}$) and find that the distribution significantly deviates from isotropy. A local matter underdensity region exists toward (${308.4^{\circ}}$$_{-48.7}^{+47.6}$, ${-18.2^{\circ}}$$_{-28.8}^{+21.1}$) as well as a preferred direction of the cosmic anisotropy (${313.4^{\circ}}$$_{-18.2}^{+19.6}$, ${-16.8^{\circ}}$$_{-10.7}^{+11.1}$) in galactic coordinates. Similar directions may imply that local matter density might be responsible for the anisotropy of the accelerated expansion of the Universe. Results of statistical isotropy analyses including Isotropy and Isotropy with real-data positions (RP) show high confidence levels. For the local matter underdensity, the statistical significances are 2.78$\sigma$ (isotropy) and 2.34$\sigma$ (isotropy RP). For the cosmic anisotropy, the statistical significances are 3.96$\sigma$ (isotropy) and 3.15$\sigma$ (isotropy RP). The comparison of these two kinds of statistical isotropy analyses suggests that inhomogeneous spatial distribution of real sample can increase the deviation from isotropy. The similar results and findings are also found from reanalyses of the low-redshift sample (lp+) and the lower screening angle ($\theta_\mathrm{max}$ = 60$^{\circ}$), but with a slight decrease in statistical significance. Overall, our results provide clear indications for a possible cosmic anisotropy. This possibility must be taken seriously. Further testing is needed to better understand this signal., Comment: 15 pages, 20 figures and 3 tables, published version of A&A, corrected some typos and updated the reference, the abstract appearing here is slightly shorter than that in the PDF file

Recent observations discovered that some repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs) show a large value and complex variations of Faraday rotation measures (RMs). The binary systems containing a supermassive black hole (SMBH) and a neutron star (NS) can be used to explain such RM variations. Meanwhile, such systems produce low-frequency gravitational wave (GW) signals, which are one of the primary interests of three proposed space-based GW detectors: the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), Tianqin and Taiji. These signals are known as extreme mass ratio inspirals (EMRIs). Therefore, FRBs can serve as candidates of electromagnetic (EM) counterparts for EMRI signals. In this letter, we study the EMRI signals in this binary system, which can be detected up to $z\sim0.04$ by LISA and Tianqin for the most optimistic case. Assuming the cosmic comb model for FRB production, the total event rate can be as high as $\sim1$ Gpc$^{-3}$ yr$^{-1}$. EMRI signals associated with FRBs can be used to reveal the progenitor of FRBs. It is also a new type of standard siren, which can be used as an independent cosmological probe., Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are energetic millisecond phenomena in radio band. Polarimetric studies of repeating FRBs indicate that many of these sources occupy extreme and complex magneto-ionized environments. Recently, a frequency-dependent depolarization has been discovered in several repeating FRBs. However, the temporal evolution of polarization properties is limited by the burst rate and observational cadence of telescopes. In this letter, the temporal evolution of depolarization in repeating FRB 20201124A is explored. Using the simultaneous variation of rotation measure and dispersion measure, we also measure the strength of a magnetic field parallel to the line-of-sight. The strength ranges from a few $\mu {\rm G}$ to $10^3\ \mu {\rm G}$. In addition, we find that the evolution of depolarization and magnetic field traces the evolution of rotation measure. Our result supports that the variation of depolarization, rotation measure and the magnetic field are determined by the same complex magneto-ionized screen surrounding the FRB source. The derived properties of the screen are consistent with the wind and the decretion disk of a massive star., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, accept for publication in ApJL

Recently, remarkable anti-glitch and glitch accompanied by bright radio bursts of the Galactic magnetar SGR J1935+2154 were discovered. These two infrequent temporal coincidences between the glitch/anti-glitch and the fast radio burst (FRB)-like bursts reveal their physical connection of them. Here we propose that the anti-glitch/glitch and FRB-like bursts can be well understood by an asteroid tidally captured by a magnetar. In this model, an asteroid is tidally captured and disrupted by a magnetar. Then, the disrupted asteroid will transfer the angular momentum to the magnetar producing a sudden change in the magnetar rotational frequency at the magnetosphere radius. If the orbital angular momentum of the asteroid is parallel (or anti-parallel) to that of the spinning magnetar, a glitch (or anti-glitch) will occur. Subsequently, the bound asteroid materials fall back to the pericenter and eventually are accreted to the surface of the magnetar. Massive fragments of the asteroid cross magnetic field lines and produce bright radio bursts through coherent curvature radiation. Our model can explain the sudden magnetar spin changes and FRB-like bursts in a unified way., Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, published by MNRAS https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad1585

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are brief, luminous pulses with unknown physical origin. The repetition pattern of FRBs contains essential information about their physical nature and emission mechanisms. Using the two largest samples of FRB 20121102A and FRB 20201124, we report that the sources of the two FRBs reveal memory over a large range of timescales, from a few minutes to about an hour. The memory is detected from the coherent growths in burst-rate structures and the Hurst exponent. The waiting time distribution displays a power-law tail, which is consistent with a Poisson model with a time-varying rate. From cellular automaton simulations, we find that these characteristics can be well understood within the physical framework of a self-organized criticality system driven in a correlation way, such as random walk functions. These properties indicate that the triggers of bursts are correlated, preferring the crustal failure mechanism of neutron stars., Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in ApJL

The current discrepancy between the Hubble constant $H_0$ derived from the local distance ladder and from the cosmic microwave background is one of the most crucial issues in cosmology, as it possibly indicates unknown systematics or new physics. Here we present a novel non-parametric method to estimate Hubble constant as a function of redshift. We establish independent estimates of the evolution of Hubble constant by diagonalizing the covariance matrix. From type Ia supernovae and the observed Hubble parameter data, a decreasing trend of Hubble constant with a significance of 5.6$\sigma$ confidence level is found. At low redshift, its value is dramatically consistent with that measured from the local distance ladder, and it drops to the value measured from the cosmic microwave background at high redshift. Our results can relieve the Hubble tension, and prefer the late-time solutions of it, especially the new physics., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, 5 tables, match the proofread version

The missing baryon problem is one of the major unsolved problems in astronomy. Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are bright millisecond pulses with unknown origins. The dispersion measure of FRBs is defined as the electron column density along the line of sight, and accounts for every ionized baryon. Here we measure the baryon content of the Universe using 22 localized FRBs. Unlike previous works that fixed the value of dispersion measure of FRB host galaxies and ignored the inhomogeneities of the intergalactic medium (IGM), we use the probability distributions of dispersion measures contributed by host galaxies and IGM from the state-of-the-art IllustrisTNG simulations. We derive the cosmic baryon density of $\Omega_b=0.0490^{+0.0036}_{-0.0033}$ (1$\sigma$), with a precision of 7.0%. This value is dramatically consistent with other measurements, such as the cosmic microwave background and Big Bang nucleosynthesis. Our work supports that the baryons are not missing, but residing in the IGM., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

Recent observations discovered that some repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs) show complicated variations and reversals of Faraday rotation measures (RMs), indicating that the sources of these FRBs are embedded in a dynamically magnetized environment. One possible scenario is that repeating FRBs are generated by pulsars in binary systems, especially containing a high-mass companion with strong stellar outflows. Here, we study the RM variations caused by stellar winds, and a possible stellar disc. If the magnetic field is radial in the stellar wind, RM will not reverse except if the magnetic axis inclination angle is close to $90 ^\circ$. For the toroidal magnetic field in the wind, RM will reverse at the super conjunction. For the case of the toroidal field in the disc, the RM variations may have a multimodal and multiple reversal profile because the radio signals travel through different components of the disc during periastron passage. We also apply this model to FRB 20180916B. By assuming its 16.35-day period is from a slowly rotating or freely precessing magnetar, we find that the secular RM variation can be explained by the periastron passage of a magnetar in a massive binary system. In addition, the clumps in the stellar wind and disc can cause short time-scale ($< 1$ day) variations or reversals of RM. Therefore, long-term monitoring of RM variations can reveal the environments of repeating FRBs., Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ

Some repeating fast radio burst (FRB) sources show high burst rates, and the physical origin is still unknown. Outstandingly, the first repeater FRB 121102 appears extremely high burst rate with the maximum value reaching $122\,\mathrm{h^{-1}}$ or even higher. In this work, we propose that the high burst rate of an FRB repeater may be due to plate collisions in the crust of young neutron stars (NSs). In the crust of an NS, vortex lines are pinned to the lattice nuclei. When the relative angular velocity between the superfluid neutrons and the NS lattices is nonzero, a pinned force will act on the vortex lines, which will cause the lattice displacement and the strain on the NS crust growing. With the spin evolution, the crustal strain reaches a critical value, then the crust may crack into plates, and each of plates will collide with its adjacent ones. The Aflv\'en wave could be launched by the plate collisions and further produce FRBs. In this scenario, the predicted burst rate can reach $\sim 770\,\mathrm{h}^{-1}$ for an NS with the magnetic field of $10^{13}\,\rm{G}$ and the spin period of $0.01\,\rm{s}$. We further apply this model to FRB 121102, and predict the waiting time and energy distribution to be $P(t_{\mathrm{w}}) \propto t_{\text{w}}^{\alpha_{t_{\text{w}}}}$ with $\alpha_{t_{\text{w}}} \simeq -1.75$ and $N(E)\text{d}E \propto E^{\alpha_{E}}\text{d}E$ with $\alpha_{E} \simeq -1.67$, respectively. These properties are consistent with the observations of FRB 121102., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Unconventional fermions in the immensely studied topological semimetals are the source for rich exotic topological properties. Here, using symmetry analysis and first-principles calculations, we propose the coexistence of multiple topological nodal structure in LaSb2, including topological nodal surfaces, nodal lines and in particular eightfold degenerate nodal points, which have been scarcely observed in a single material. Further, utilizing high resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy in combination with Shubnikov-de Haas quantum oscillations measurements, we confirm the existence of nodal surfaces and eightfold degenerate nodal points in LaSb2, and extract the {\pi} Berry phase proving the non-trivial electronic band structure topology therein. The intriguing multiple topological nodal structure might play a crucial role in giving rise to the large linear magnetoresistance. Our work renews the insights into the exotic topological phenomena in LaSb2 and its analogous.

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most explosive phenomena and can be used to study the expansion of Universe. In this paper, we compile a long GRB sample for the $E_{\mathrm{iso}}$-$E_{\mathrm{p}}$ correlation from Swift and Fermi observations. The sample contains 221 long GRBs with redshifts from 0.03 to 8.20. From the analysis of data in different redshift intervals, we find no statistically significant evidence for the redshift evolution of this correlation. Then we calibrate the correlation in six sub-samples and use the calibrated one to constrain cosmological parameters. Employing a piece-wise approach, we study the redshift evolution of dark energy equation of state (EOS), and find that the EOS tends to be oscillating at low redshift, but consistent with $-1$ at high redshift. It hints a dynamical dark energy at $2\sigma$ confidence level at low redshift., Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are cosmic sources emitting millisecond-duration radio bursts. Although several hundreds FRBs have been discovered, their physical nature and central engine remain unclear. The variations of Faraday rotation measure and dispersion measure, due to local environment, are crucial clues to understanding their physical nature. The recent observations on the rotation measure of FRB 20201124A show a significant variation on a day time scale. Intriguingly, the oscillation of rotation measure supports that the local contribution can change sign, which indicates the magnetic field reversal along the line of sight. Here we present a physical model that explains observed characteristics of FRB 20201124A and proposes that repeating signal comes from a binary system containing a magnetar and a Be star with a decretion disk. When the magnetar approaches the periastron, the propagation of radio waves through the disk of the Be star naturally leads to the observed varying rotation measure, depolarization, large scattering timescale, and Faraday conversion. This study will prompt to search for FRB signals from Be/X-ray binaries., Comment: 42 pages, 5 figures. Published in Nature Communications https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31923-y. Title changed, and new RM data of FRB 20190520B is fitted

In this work, six convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been trained based on %different feature images and arrays from the database including 15,638 superflare candidates on solar-type stars, which are collected from the three-years observations of Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite ({\em TESS}). These networks are used to replace the artificially visual inspection, which was a direct way to search for superflares, and exclude false positive events in recent years. Unlike other methods, which only used stellar light curves to search superflare signals, we try to identify superflares through {\em TESS} pixel-level data with lower risks of mixing false positive events, and give more reliable identification results for statistical analysis. The evaluated accuracy of each network is around 95.57\%. After applying ensemble learning to these networks, stacking method promotes accuracy to 97.62\% with 100\% classification rate, and voting method promotes accuracy to 99.42\% with relatively lower classification rate at 92.19\%. We find that superflare candidates with short duration and low peak amplitude have lower identification precision, as their superflare-features are hard to be identified. The database including 71,732 solar-type stars and 15,638 superflare candidates from {\em TESS} with corresponding feature images and arrays, and trained CNNs in this work are public available., Comment: Published in ApJ, 27 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables

The discrepancy between the value of the Hubble constant $H_0$ measured from the local distance ladder and from the cosmic microwave background is the most serious challenge to the standard $\Lambda$CDM model. Various models have been proposed to solve or relieve it, but no satisfactory solution has been given until now. Here, we report a late-time transition of $H_{0}$, i.e., $H_0$ changes from a low value to a high one from early to late cosmic time, by investigating the Hubble parameter $H(z)$ data based on the Gaussian process (GP) method. This finding effectively reduces the Hubble crisis by 70\%. Our results are also consistent with the descending trend of $H_0$ measured using time-delay cosmography of lensed quasars at 1$\sigma$ confidence level, and support the idea that the Hubble crisis arises from new physics beyond the standard $\Lambda$CDM model. In addition, in the $\Lambda$CDM model and $w$CDM model, there is no transition behavior of $H_{0}$., Comment: 7 pages, 1 table, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Cosmography is used in cosmological data processing in order to constrain the kinematics of the universe in a model-independent way. In this paper, we first investigate the effect of the ultraviolet (UV) and X-ray relation of a quasar on cosmological constraints. By fitting the quasar relation and cosmographic parameters simultaneously, we find that the 4$\sigma$ deviation from the cosmological constant cold dark matter ($\Lambda$CDM) model disappears. Next, utilizing the Pantheon sample and 31 long gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs), we make a comparison among the different cosmographic expansions ($z$-redshift, $y$-redshift, $E(y)$, $\log(1+z)$, $\log(1+z)+k_{ij}$, and Pad$\rm \acute{e}$ approximations) with the third-order and fourth-order expansions. The expansion order can significantly affect the results, especially for the $y$-redshift method. Through analysis from the same sample, the lower-order expansion is preferable, except the $y$-redshift and $E(y)$ methods. For the $y$-redshift and $E(y)$ methods, despite adopting the same parameterization of $y=z/(1+z)$, the performance of the latter is better than that of the former. Logarithmic polynomials, $\log(1+z)$ and $\log(1+z) + k_{ij}$, perform significantly better than $z$-redshift, $y$-redshift, and $E(y)$ methods, but worse than Pad$\rm \acute{e}$ approximations. Finally, we comprehensively analyze the results obtained from different samples. We find that the Pad$\rm \acute{e}_{(2,1)}$ method is suitable for both low and high redshift cases. The Pad$\rm \acute{e}_{(2,2)}$ method performs well in a high-redshift situation. For the $y$-redshift and $E(y)$ methods, the only constraint on the first two parameters ($q_{0}$ and $j_{0}$) is reliable., Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are pulsed radio signals with a duration of milliseconds and a large dispersion measure (DM). Recent observations indicate that FRB 180916 and FRB 121102 show periodic activities. Some theoretical models have been proposed to explain periodic FRBs, and here we test these using corresponding X-ray and $\gamma$-ray observations. We find that the orbital periodic model, the free precession model, the radiation-driven precession model, the fall-back disk precession model where eccentricity is due to the internal magnetic field, and the rotation periodic model are not consistent with observations. The geodetic precession model is the most likely periodic model for FRB 180916. We also propose methods to test the periodic models with yet-to-be-obtained observational data in the future., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, typos corrected, published in A&A, https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202142321

Recently, FRB 190520B with the largest extragalactic dispersion measure (DM), was discovered by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). The DM excess over the intergalactic medium and Galactic contributions is estimated as $\sim 900$ pc cm$^{-3}$, which is nearly ten times higher than other fast radio bursts (FRBs) host galaxies. The DM decreases with the rate $\sim0.1$ pc cm$^{-3}$ per day. It is the second FRB associated with a compact persistent radio source (PRS). The rotation measure (RM) is found to be larger than $1.8 \times 10^{5} \mathrm{rad} ~\mathrm{m}^{-2}$. In this letter, we argue that FRB 190520B is powered by a young magentar formed by core-collapse of massive stars, embedded in a composite of magnetar wind nebula (MWN) and supernova remnant (SNR). The energy injection of the magnetar drives the MWN and SN ejecta to evolve together, and the PRS is generated by the synchrotron radiation of the MWN. The magnetar has the interior magnetic field $B_{\text{int}}\sim (2-4)\times 10^{16}$ G and the age $t_{\text{age}}\sim 14-22$ yr. The dense SN ejecta and the shocked shell contribute a large fraction of the observed DM and RM. Our model can naturally explain the luminous PRS, decreasing DM and extreme RM of FRB 190520B simultaneously., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in the ApJ Letters, references added

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are highly dispersed millisecond-duration radio bursts. Recent observations of a Galactic FRB suggest that at least some FRBs originate from magnetars, but the origin of cosmological FRBs is still not settled. Here we report the detection of 1863 bursts in 82 hr over 54 days from the repeating source FRB~20201124A. These observations show irregular short-time variation of the Faraday rotation measure (RM), which probes the density-weighted line-of-sight magnetic field strength, of individual bursts during the first 36 days, followed by a constant RM. We detected circular polarisation in more than half of the burst sample, including one burst reaching a high fractional circular polarisation of 75%. Oscillations in fractional linear and circular polarisations as well as polarisation angle as a function of wavelength were detected. All of these features provide evidence for a complicated, dynamically evolving, magnetised immediate environment within about an astronomical unit (au; Earth-Sun distance) of the source. Our optical observations of its Milky-Way-sized, metal-rich host galaxy reveal a barred spiral, with the FRB source residing in a low stellar density, interarm region at an intermediate galactocentric distance. This environment is inconsistent with a young magnetar engine formed during an extreme explosion of a massive star that resulted in a long gamma-ray burst or superluminous supernova., Comment: 28 pages, 10 figures, updated to match the published version

Quasi-periodic eruptions (QPEs), which are a new kind of X-ray bursts with a recurrence time of several hours, have been detected from supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in galactic nuclei. Recently, the two QPEs discovered by the \textit{eROSITA} show asymmetric light curves with a fast rise and a slow decline. Current models cannot explain the observational characteristics of QPEs. Here we show that QPEs can be generated from the Roche lobe overflows at each periapsis passage of an evolved star orbiting an SMBH. The properties of the companion stars are constrained via analytic estimations. We find that hydrogen-deficient post-AGB stars are promising candidates. Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA) stellar evolution code is used to construct the hydrogen-deficient stars which can fulfill the requirements, as obtained through analytical estimates, to produce the properties of QPEs, including the fast-rise and slow-decay light curves, periods, energetics, and rates. Furthermore, the extreme mass ratio $\sim 10^5$ between the SMBH and the donor will lead to a phenomenon called extreme mass-ratio inspiral (EMRI), producing millihertz gravitational waves. These QPEs would be detected as EMRI sources with electromagnetic counterparts for space-based GW detectors, such as Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and Tianqin. They would provide a new way to measure the Hubble constant and further test the Hubble constant tension., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in A&A

The $\Lambda$CDM model successfully explains the majority of cosmological observations. However, the $\Lambda$CDM model is challenged by Hubble tension, a remarkable difference of Hubble constant $H_0$ between measurements from local probe and the prediction from Planck cosmic microwave background observations under $ \Lambda$CDM model. So one urgently needs new distance indicators to test the Hubble tension. Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration pulses occurring at cosmological distances, which are attractive cosmological probes. However, there is a thorny problem that the dispersion measures (DMs) contributed by host galaxy and the inhomogeneities of intergalactic medium cannot be exactly determined from observations. Previous works assuming fixed values for them bring uncontrolled systematic error in analysis. A reasonable approach is to handle them as probability distributions extracted from cosmological simulations. Here we report a measurement of ${H_0} = 64.67^{+5.62}_{-4.66} {\rm \ km \ s^{-1} \ Mpc^{-1}}$ using fourteen localized FRBs, with an uncertainty of 8.7\% at 68.3 per cent confidence. Thanks to the high event rate of FRBs and localization capability of radio telescopes (i.e., Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder and Very Large Array), future observations of a reasonably sized sample ($\sim$100 localized FRBs) will provide a new way of measuring $H_0$ with a high precision ($\sim$2.6\%) to test the Hubble tension., Comment: minor revision, published in MNRAS Letters

The frequency-dependent periodic active window of the fast radio burst FRB 180916.J0158+65 (FRB 180916B) was observed recently. In this Letter, we propose that a Be/X-ray binary (BeXRB) system, which is composed of a neutron star (NS) and a Be star with a circumstellar disk, might be the source of a repeating FRB with periodic activities, and apply this model to explain the activity window of FRB 180916B. The interaction between the NS magnetosphere and the accreted material results in evolution of the spin period and the centrifugal force of the NS, leading to the change of the stress in the NS crust. When the stress of the crust reaches the critical value, a starquake occurs and further produces FRBs. The interval between starquakes is estimated to be a few days that is smaller than the active window of FRB 180916B. When the NS moves out of the disk of the Be star, the interval between starquakes becomes much longer than the orbital period, which corresponds to the non-active phase. In this model, due to the absorption of the disk of the Be star, a frequency-dependent active window would appear for the FRBs, which is consistent with the observed properties of FRB 180916B. And the contribution of dispersion measure (DM) from the disk of the Be star is small. In addition, the location of FRB 180916B in the host galaxy is consistent with a BeXRB system., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in ApJL

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), as a possible probe to extend the Hubble diagram to high redshifts, have attracted much attention recently. In this paper, we select two samples of GRBs that have a plateau phase in X-ray afterglow. One is short GRBs with plateau phases dominated by magnetic dipole (MD) radiations. The other is long GRBs with gravitational-wave (GW) dominated plateau phases. These GRBs can be well standardized using the correlation between the plateau luminosity $L_0$ and the end time of plateau $t_b$. The so-called circularity problem is mitigated by using the observational Hubble parameter data and Gaussian process method. The calibrated \ltb ~correlations are also used to constrain $\Lambda$CDM and $w(z)$ = $w_{0}$ models. Combining the MD-LGRBs sample from Wang et al. (2021) and the MD-SGRBs sample, we find $\Omega_{m} = 0.33_{-0.09}^{+0.06}$ and $\Omega_{\Lambda}$ = $1.06_{-0.34}^{+0.15}$ excluding systematic uncertainties in the nonflat $\Lambda$CDM model. Adding type Ia supernovae from Pantheon sample, the best-fitting results are $w_{0}$ = $-1.11_{-0.15}^{+0.11}$ and $\Omega_{m}$ = $0.34_{-0.04}^{+0.05}$ in the $w=w_0$ model. These results are in agreement with the $\Lambda$CDM model. Our result supports that selection of GRBs from the same physical mechanism is crucial for cosmological purposes., Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in MNRAS

The energy and waiting time distributions are important properties for understanding the physical mechanism of repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs). Recently, the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) detected the largest burst sample of FRB 121102, containing 1652 bursts. We use this sample to investigate the energy and waiting time distributions. The energy count distribution $dN/dE$ at the high-energy range ($>10^{38}$ erg) can be fitted with a single power-law function with an index of $-1.86 ^{+0.02}_{-0.02}$, while the distribution at the low-energy range deviates from the power-law function. An interesting result of Li et al. (2021) is that there is an apparent temporal gap between early bursts (occurring before MJD 58740) and late bursts (occurring after MJD 58740). We find the energy distributions of high-energy bursts at different epochs are inconsistent. The power-law index is $-1.70^{+0.03}_{-0.03}$ for early bursts and $-2.60^{+0.15}_{-0.14}$ for late bursts. For bursts observed in a single day, a linear repetition pattern is found. We use the Weibull function to fit the distribution of waiting time of consecutive bursts. The shape parameter $k = 0.72^{+0.01}_{-0.01}$ and the event rate $r = 736.43^{+26.55}_{-28.90}$ day$ ^{-1} $ are derived. If the waiting times with $\delta_t < 28$ s are excluded, the burst behavior can be described by a Poisson process. The best-fitting values of $k$ are slightly different for low-energy ($E < 1.58\times10^{38}$ erg) and high-energy ($E > 1.58\times10^{38}$ erg) bursts., Comment: 20 pages, 1 table, 10 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

The event rate, energy distribution, and time-domain behaviour of repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs) contains essential information regarding their physical nature and central engine, which are as yet unknown. As the first precisely-localized source, FRB 121102 has been extensively observed and shows non-Poisson clustering of bursts over time and a power-law energy distribution. However, the extent of the energy distribution towards the fainter end was not known. Here we report the detection of 1652 independent bursts with a peak burst rate of 122~hr^{-1}, in 59.5 hours spanning 47 days. A peak in the isotropic equivalent energy distribution is found to be ~4.8 x 10^{37} erg at 1.25~GHz, below which the detection of bursts is suppressed. The burst energy distribution is bimodal, and well characterized by a combination of a log-normal function and a generalized Cauchy function. The large number of bursts in hour-long spans allow sensitive periodicity searches between 1 ms and 1000 s. The non-detection of any periodicity or quasi-periodicity poses challenges for models involving a single rotating compact object. The high burst rate also implies that FRBs must be generated with a high radiative efficiency, disfavoring emission mechanisms with large energy requirements or contrived triggering conditions., Comment: 69 pages, 14 figures, 2 tables; Updates for author correction

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most luminous explosions and can be detectable out to the edge of Universe. It has long been thought they can extend the Hubble diagram to very high redshifts. Several correlations between temporal or spectral properties and GRB luminosities have been proposed to make GRBs cosmological tools. However, those correlations cannot be properly standardized. In this paper, we select a long GRB sample with X-ray plateau phases produced by electromagnetic dipole emissions from central new-born magnetars. A tight correlation is found between the plateau luminosity and the end time of the plateau in X-ray afterglows out to the redshift $z=5.91$. We standardize these long GRBs X-ray light curves to a universal behavior by this correlation for the first time, with a luminosity dispersion of 0.5 dex. The derived distance-redshift relation of GRBs is in agreement with the standard $\Lambda$CDM model both at low and high redshifts. The evidence of accelerating universe from this GRB sample is $3\sigma$, which is the highest statistical significance from GRBs to date., Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, main results are shown in Figures 3, 4 and 5, submitted to ApJ

Magnetars are highly magnetized neutron stars that are characterized by recurrent emission of short-duration bursts in soft gamma-rays/hard X-rays. Recently, FRB 200428 were found to be associated with an X-ray burst from a Galactic magnetar. Two fast radio bursts (FRBs) show mysterious periodic activity. However, whether magnetar X-ray bursts are periodic phenomena is unclear. In this paper, we investigate the period of SGR 1806-20 activity. More than 3000 short bursts observed by different telescopes are collected, including the observation of RXTE, HETE-2, ICE and Konus. We consider the observation windows and divide the data into two sub-samples to alleviate the effect of unevenly sample. The epoch folding and Lomb-Scargle methods are used to derive the period of short bursts. We find a possible period about $ 398.20 \pm 25.45 $ days. While other peaks exist in the periodograms. If the period is real, the connection between short bursts of magnetars and FRBs should be extensively investigated., Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

In this work, 1272 superflares on 311 stars are collected from 22,539 solar-type stars from the second-year observation of Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which almost covered the northern hemisphere of the sky. Three superflare stars contain hot Jupiter candidates or ultrashort-period planet candidates. We obtain $\gamma = -1.76\pm 0.11$ of the correlation between flare frequency and flare energy ($dN/dE\propto E^{-\gamma}$) for all superflares and get $\beta=0.42\pm0.01$ of the correlation between superflare duration and energy ($T_{\text {duration }} \propto E^{\beta}$), which supports that a similar mechanism is shared by stellar superflares and solar flares. Stellar photometric variability ($R_{\rm var}$) is estimated for all solar-type stars, and the relation of $E\propto {R_{\rm var}}^{3/2}$ is included. An indicator of chromospheric activity ($S$-index) is obtained by using data from the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) for 7454 solar-type stars. Distributions of these two properties indicate that the Sun is generally less active than superflare stars. We find that saturation-like feature of $R_{\rm var}\sim 0.1$ may be the reason for superflare energy saturating around $10^{36}$ erg. Object TIC 93277807 was captured by the TESS first-year mission and generated the most energetic superflare. This superflare is valuable and unique that can be treated as an extreme event, which may be generated by different mechanisms rather than other superflares., Comment: Accepted for Publication in ApJS. Comments are welcome. 35 pages, 15 figures, 7 tables

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration radio transients and can be used as a cosmological probe. However, the dispersion measure (DM) contributed by intergalactic medium (IGM) is hard to be distinguished from other components. In this paper, we use the IllustrisTNG simulation to realistically estimate the $DM_{\rm IGM}$ up to $z\sim 9$. We find $DM_{\rm IGM} = 892^{+721}_{-270}$ pc cm$^{-3}$ at $z=1$. The probability distribution of $DM_{\rm IGM}$ can be well fitted by a quasi-Gaussian function with a long tail. The tail is caused by the structures along the line of sight in IGM. Subtracting DM contributions from the Milky Way and host galaxy for localized FRBs, the $DM_{\rm IGM}$ value is close to the derived $DM_{\rm IGM}-z$ relation. We also show the capability to constrain the cosmic reionization history with the $DM_{\rm IGM}$ of high-redshift FRBs in the IllustrisTNG universe. The derived $DM_{\rm IGM}-z$ relation at high redshifts can be well fitted by a $tanh$ reionization model with the reionization redshift $z=5.95$, which is compatible with the reionization model used by the IllustrisTNG simulation. The $DM_{\rm IGM}$ of high-redshift FRBs also provides an independent way to measure the optical depth of cosmic microwave background (CMB). Our result can be used to derive the pseudo-redshifts of non-localized FRBs for $DM_{\rm IGM}<4000$ \ \ pc cm$^{-3}$., Comment: 10 pges, 1 table, accepted for publication in ApJ

Since the discovery of FRB 200428 associated with the Galactic SGR 1935+2154, magnetars are considered to power fast radio bursts (FRBs). It is widely believed that magnetars could form by core-collapse (CC) explosions and compact binary mergers, such as binary neutron star (BNS), binary white dwarfs (BWD), and neutron star-white dwarf (NSWD) mergers. Therefore, it is important to distinguish the various progenitors. The expansion of the merger ejecta produces a time-evolving dispersion measure (DM) and rotation measure (RM) that can probe the local environments of FRBs. In this paper, we derive the scaling laws for the DM and RM from ejecta with different dynamical structures (the mass and energy distribution) in the uniform ambient medium (merger scenario) and wind environment (CC scenario). We find that the DM and RM will increase in the early phase, while DM will continue to grow slowly but RM will decrease in the later phase in the merger scenario. We fit the DM and RM evolution of FRB 121102 simultaneously for the first time in the BNS merger scenario, and find the source age is $ \sim9-10 $ yr when it was first detected in 2012, and the ambient medium density is $ \sim 2.5-3.1 $ cm$ ^{-3} $. The large offsets of some FRBs are consistent with BNS/NSWD channel. The population synthesis method is used to estimate the rate of compact binary mergers. The rate of BWD mergers is close to the observed FRB rate. Therefore, the progenitors of FRBs may not be unique., Comment: 32 pages, 12 figures, 6 tables, minor changes, references added, accepted for publication in ApJ

In this paper, we investigate the cosmic anisotropy from the SN-Q sample, consisting of the Pantheon sample and quasars, by employing the hemisphere comparison (HC) method and the dipole fitting (DF) method. Compared to the Pantheon sample, the new sample has a larger redshift range, a more homogeneous distribution, and a larger sample size. For the HC method, we find that the maximum anisotropy level is $AL_{max}=0.142\pm0.026$ in the direction ($l$, $b$) = $({316.08^{\circ}}^{+27.41}_{-129.48}$, ${4.53^{\circ}}^{+26.29}_{-64.06})$. The magnitude of anisotropy is $A$ = ($-$8.46 $^{+4.34}_{-5.51}$)$\times$$10^{-4}$ and the corresponding preferred direction points toward $(l$, $b)$ = ($29.31^{\circ}$$^{+30.59}_{-30.54}$, $71.40^{\circ}$$^{+9.79}_{-9.72}$) for the quasar sample from the DF method. The combined SN and quasar sample is consistent with the isotropy hypothesis. The distribution of the dataset might impact the preferred direction from the dipole results. The result is weakly dependent on the redshift from the redshift tomography analysis. There is no evidence of cosmic anisotropy in the SN-Q sample. Though some results obtained from the quasar sample are not consistent with the standard cosmological model, we still do not find any distinct evidence of cosmic anisotropy in the SN-Q sample., Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure2, 2 tables, accepted for publication in A&A

Recently, the discovery of Galactic FRB 200428 associated with a X-ray burst (XRB) of SGR 1935+2154 has built a bridge between FRBs and magnetar activities. In this paper, we assume that the XRB occurs in the magnetar magnetosphere. We show that the observational properties of FRB 200428 and the associated XRB are consistent with the predictions of synchrotron maser emission at ultrarelativistic magnetized shocks, including radiation efficiency, similar energy occurrence frequency distributions, and simultaneous arrive times. It requires that the upstream medium is a mildly relativistic baryonic shell ejected by a previous flare. The energy injection by flares responsible for the radio bursts will produce a magnetar wind nebula, which has been used to explain the persistent radio source associated FRB 121102. We find that the radio continuum around SGR 1935+2154 can be well understood in the magnetar wind nebula model, by assuming the same energy injection rate $\dot{E} \propto t^{-1.37}$ as FRB 121102. The required baryonic mass is also estimated form the observations of FRB 121102 by GBT and FAST. By assuming the same radiation efficiency $\eta \sim 10^{-5}$, the total baryonic mass ejected from the central magnetar is about 0.005 solar mass. This value is much larger than the typical mass of a magnetar outer crust, but is comparable to the total mass of a magnetar crust., Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

We calculate the dispersion measures (DMs) contributed by host galaxies of fast radio bursts (FRBs). Based on a few host galaxy observations, a large sample of galaxy with similar properties to observed ones has been selected from the IllustrisTNG simulation. They are used to compute the distributions of host galaxy DMs for repeating and non-repeating FRBs. For repeating FRBs, we infer the DM$ _{\mathrm{host}} $ for FRBs like FRB 121102 and FRB 180916 by assuming that the burst sites are tracing the star formation rates in host galaxies. The median DM$_{\mathrm{host}}$ are $35 (1+z)^{1.08}$ and $96(1+z)^{0.83}$ pc cm$^{-3}$ for FRBs like FRB 121102 and FRB 180916, respectively. In another case, the median of DM$_{\mathrm{host}}$ is about $30 - 70$ pc cm$^{-3}$ for non-repeating FRBs in the redshift range $z=0.1-1.5$, assuming that the burst sites are the locations of binary neutron star mergers. In this case, the evolution of the median DM$_{\mathrm{host}}$ can be calculated by $33(1+z)^{0.84}$ pc cm$^{-3}$. The distributions of DM$_{\mathrm{host}}$ of repeating and non-repeating FRBs can be well fitted with the log-normal function. Our results can be used to infer redshifts of non-localized FRBs., Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are mysterious millisecond-duration radio transients of unknown origin observed at extragalactic distances. It has been long speculated that magnetars are the engine powering repeating bursts from FRB sources, but no convincing evidence has been collected so far\cite{sun19}. Recently, the Galactic magnetar SGR J1935+2154 entered an active phase by emitting intense soft Gamma-ray bursts. One FRB-like event with two peaks (FRB 200428) and a luminosity slightly lower than the faintest extragalactic FRBs was detected from the source, in association with a soft Gamma-ray / hard X-ray flare. Here we report an eight-hour targeted radio observational campaign comprising four sessions and assisted by multi-wavelength (optical and hard X-rays) data. During the third session, 29 soft Gamma-ray repeater (SGR) bursts were detected in Gamma-ray energies. Throughout the observing period, we detected no single dispersed pulsed emission coincident with the arrivals of SGR bursts, but unfortunately we were not observing when the FRB was detected. The non-detection places a fluence upper limit that is eight orders of magnitude lower than the fluence of FRB 200428. Our results suggest that FRB -- SGR burst associations are rare. FRBs may be highly relativistic and geometrically beamed, or FRB-like events associated with SGR bursts may have narrow spectra and characteristic frequencies outside the observed band. It is also possible that the physical conditions required to achieve coherent radiation in SGR bursts are difficult to satisfy, and that only under extreme conditions could an FRB be associated with an SGR burst., Comment: 27 pages, 7 figures, Published in Nature 2020, Vol 587

The Hubble parameter $H(z)$ is directly related to the expansion of our Universe. It can be used to study dark energy and constrain cosmology models. In this paper, we propose that $H(z)$ can be measured using fast radio bursts (FRBs) with redshift measurements. We use dispersion measures contributed by the intergalactic medium, which is related to $H(z)$, to measure Hubble parameter. We find that 500 mocked FRBs with dispersion measures and redshift information can accurately measure Hubble parameters using Monte Carlo simulation. The maximum deviation of $H(z)$ from standard $\Lambda$CDM model is about 6\% at redshift $z= 2.4$. We also test our method using Monte Carlo simulation. Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) test is used to check the simulation. The $p$-value of K-S test is 0.23, which confirms internal consistency of the simulation. In future, more localizations of FRBs make it as an attractive cosmological probe., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

The nuclide $^{14}$C can be produced in the atmosphere by high energy particles and $\gamma$-rays from high-energy phenomena. Through the carbon cycle, some of $^{14}$CO$_2$ produced in the atmosphere can be retained in annual tree rings. Four events of rapid increase of the $^{14}$C content occurred in AD 775, AD 994, BC 660 and BC 3371 were found. Recently, the data of Jull et al. (2020) was inconsistent with our records around BC 3371. We measured our sample again and found the $^{14}$C records are consistent with the value in Wang et al. (2017). Therefore, our $^{14}$C records are robust. The inconsistency may be caused by the difference of calendar ages for the wood samples, or the physical origin of the event. First, crossdating on ring width can be performed only between trees whose growth has the same environmental conditions. Because the master tree-ring for dendrochronology is lack for Chinese trees. The master tree-ring from California has to be used. Therefore, the calendar ages derived from dendrochronology may be not precise. Second, the $^{14}$C even may be not global. One evidence is the variation of $^{14}$C content around AD 1006. The $^{14}$C contents of Californian trees increase 12\textperthousand~ in two years, while Japanese trees show no $^{14}$C increase., Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, 1 table

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are extragalactic, bright pulses of emission at radio frequency with milliseconds duration. Observationally, FRBs can be divided into two classes, repeating FRBs and non-repeating FRBs. At present, twenty repeating FRBs have been discovered with unknown physical origins. Localization of the first repeating FRB 121102 and discovery of an associated persistent radio source support that FRBs are powered by young millisecond magnetars, which could be formed by core-collapses of massive stars or binary neutron stars mergers. These two formation channels can be distinguished by gravitational waves generated by binary neutron stars mergers. We first calculate the lower limit of the local formation rate of repeating FRBs observed by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) . Then we show that only a small fraction ($6\%$) of repeating FRBs is produced by young magnetars from binary neutron star mergers, basing on the gravitational wave detections by the third observing run (O3) of Advanced LIGO/Virgo gravitational-wave detectors. Therefore, we believe that repeating FRBs are more likely produced by the magnetars newborn from the core-collapses of massive stars rather than the magnetars from the binary neutron stars mergers., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

Young neutron stars (NSs) born in core-collapse explosions are promising candidates for the central engines of fast radio bursts (FRBs), since the first localized repeating burst FRB 121102 happens in a star forming dwarf galaxy, which is similar to the host galaxies of superluminous supernovae (SLSNe) and long gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs). However, FRB 180924 and FRB 190523 are localized to massive galaxies with low rates of star formation, compared with the host of FRB 121102. Meanwhile, the offsets between the bursts and host centers are about 4 kpc and 29 kpc for FRB 180924 and FRB 190523, respectively. These properties of hosts are similar to short gamma-ray bursts \textbf{(SGRBs)}, which are produced by mergers of binary neutron star (BNS) or neutron star-black hole (NS-BH). Therefore, the NSs powering FRBs may be formed in BNS mergers. In this paper, we study the BNS merger rates, merger times, and predict their most likely merger locations for different types of host galaxies using population synthesis method. We find that the BNS merger channel is consistent with the recently reported offsets of FRB 180924 and FRB 190523. The offset distribution of short GRBs is well reproduced by population synthesis using galaxy model which is similar to GRB hosts. The event rate of FRBs (including non-repeating and repeating), is larger than those of BNS merger and short GRBs, which requires a large fraction of observed FRBs emitting several bursts. Using curvature radiation by bunches in NS magnetospheres, we also predict the observational properties of FRBs from BNS mergers, including the dispersion measure, and rotation measure. At late times ($t\geq1$yr), the contribution to dispersion measure and rotation measure from BNS merger ejecta could be neglected., Comment: 29 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

Superflares, as strong explosions on stars, have been well studied with the progress of space time-domain astronomy. In this work, we present the study of superflares on solar-type stars using Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite ({\em{TESS}}) data. 13 sectors of observations during the first year of the {\em TESS} mission have covered the southern hemisphere of the sky, containing 25,734 solar-type stars. We verified 1,216 superflares on 400 solar-type stars through automatic search and visual inspection with 2-minute cadence data. Our result suggests a higher superflare frequency distribution than the result from {\em Kepler}. The reason may be that the majority of {\em TESS} solar-type stars in our dataset are rapidly rotating stars. The power-law index $\gamma$ of the superflare frequency distribution ($dN/dE\propto E^{-\gamma}$) is constrained to be $\gamma = 2.16\pm 0.10$, which is a little larger than that of solar flares but consistent with the results from {\em Kepler}. Because only 7 superflares of Sun-like stars are detected, we may not give a robust superflare occurrence frequency. And four stars are accompanied by unconfirmed hot planet candidates. Therefore, superflares are possibly caused by stellar magnetic activities instead of planet-star interactions. We also find an extraordinary star TIC43472154, which exhibits about 200 superflares per year. In addition, the correlation between energy and duration of superflares ($T_{\text {duration }} \propto E^{\beta}$) is analyzed. We derive the power-law index to be $\beta=0.42\pm0.01$, which is a little larger than $\beta=1/3$ from the prediction according to magnetic reconnection theory., Comment: Accepted for Publication in ApJ. Comments are welcome. 22 pages, 10 figures, 8 tables

The extreme mass ratio inspiral (EMRI), defined as a stellar-mass compact object inspiraling into a supermassive black hole (SMBH), has been widely argued to be a low-frequency gravitational wave (GW) source. EMRIs providing accurate measurements of black hole mass and spin, are one of the primary interests for Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). However, it is usually believed that there are no electromagnetic (EM) counterparts to EMRIs. Here we show a new formation channel of EMRIs with tidal disruption flares as EM counterparts. In this scenario, flares can be produced from the tidal stripping of the helium (He) envelope of a massive star by an SMBH. The left compact core of the massive star will evolve into an EMRI. We find that, under certain initial eccentricity and semimajor axis, the GW frequency of the inspiral can enter LISA band within 10 $\sim$ 20 years, which makes the tidal disruption flare an EM precursor to EMRI. Although the event rate is just $2\times 10^{-4}~\rm Gpc^{-3}yr^{-1}$, this association can not only improve the localization accuracy of LISA and help to find the host galaxy of EMRI, but also serve as a new GW standard siren for cosmology., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJL

Four significant events of rapid $^{14}$C increase have taken place within the past several thousand years. The physical origin of these rapid increases is still a mystery but must be associated with extremely energetic cosmic processes. Pulsars are highly magnetized neutron stars that emit a beam of electromagnetic radiations. Any sudden release of the energy stored in the magnetic multipole field will trigger outbursts similar to the giant flares of magnetars. Here we show that the relativistic outflow from the outbursts of a nearby pulsar interacting with the interstellar medium generates a shock, which accelerates electrons to trillions of electron volts. The high-energy photons from synchrotron emission of the shock interact with Earth's atmosphere, producing the cosmogenic nuclide $^{14}$C, which can cause the rapid $^{14}$C increases discovered in tree rings. These same relativistic electrons can account for a significant fraction of the cosmic electron spectrum in the trillion electron volts energy range, as observed by space-borne satellites. Since these outburst events can significantly affect our environment, monitoring nearby pulsars for such outbursts may be important in the future., Comment: 24 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

In this paper, we present statistics of soft gamma repeater (SGR) bursts from SGR J1550-5418, SGR 1806-20 and SGR 1900+14 by adding new bursts from K{\i}rm{\i}z{\i}bayrak et al. (2017) detected with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). We find that the fluence distributions of magnetar bursts are well described by power-law functions with indices 1.84, 1.68, and 1.65 for SGR J1550-5418, SGR 1806-20 and SGR 1900+14, respectively. The duration distributions of magnetar bursts also show power-law forms. Meanwhile, the waiting time distribution can be described by a non-stationary Poisson process with an exponentially growing occurrence rate. These distributive features indicate that magnetar bursts can be regarded as a self-organizing critical process. We also compare these distributions with the repeating FRB 121102. The statistical properties of repeating FRB 121102 are similar with magentar bursts, combing with the large required magnetic filed ($B\geq 10^{14}$G) of neutron star for FRB 121102, which indicates that the central engine of FRB 121102 may be a magnetar., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS

In this paper, we investigate the energy function, formation rate and environment of fast radio bursts (FRBs) using Parkes sample and Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) sample. For the first time, the metallicity effect on the formation rate is considered. If FRBs are produced by the mergers of compact binaries, the formation rate of FRBs should have a time delay relative to cosmic star formation rate (CSFR). We get the time delay is about 3-5 Gyr and the index of differential energy function $\gamma$ ($dN/dE\propto E^{-\gamma}$) is between 1.6 and 2.0 from redshift cumulative distribution. The value of $\gamma$ is similar to that of FRB 121102, which indicates single bursts may share the same physical mechanism with the repeaters. In another case, if the formation rate of FRB is proportional to the SFR without time delay, the index $\gamma$ is about 2.3. In both cases, we find that FRBs may prefer to occur in low-metallicity environment with $ 12 +\log(\rm{O/H}) \simeq 8.40$, which is similar to those of long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and hydrogen-poor superluminous supernovae (SLSNe-I)., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are milliseconds radio transients with large dispersion measures (DMs). An outstanding question is the relation between repeating FRBs and those with a single burst. In this paper, we study the energy distribution of the repeating FRB 121102. For a power-law distribution of energy $dN/dE\propto E^{-\alpha_E}$, we show that the value of $\alpha_E$ is in a narrow range $1.6-1.8$ for bursts observed by different telescopes at different frequencies, which indicates a universal energy distribution for FRB 121102. Interestingly, similar power-law index of energy distribution for non-repeating FRBs observed by Parkes and ASKAP is also found. However, if low-energy bursts below completeness threshold of Arecibo are discarded for FRB 121102, the slope could be up to 2.2. Implications of such a universal energy distribution are discussed., Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures, 8 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ