Quark Nova Model for Fast Radio Bursts

Understand

FRBs are puzzling, millisecond, energetic radio transients with no discernible source; observations show no counterparts in other frequency bands.

• The birth of a quark star from a parent neutron star experiencing a quark nova - previously thought undetectable when born in isolation - provides a natural explanation for the emission characteristics of FRBs.
• The generation of unstable r-process elements in the quark nova ejecta provides millisecond exponential injection of electrons into the surrounding strong magnetic field at the parent neutron star's light cylinder via $\beta$-decay.
• This radio synchrotron emission has a total duration of hundreds of milliseconds and matches the observed spectrum while reducing the inferred dispersion measure by approximately 200 cm$^{-3}$ pc.