Fast radio bursts from reconnection in magnetar magnetosphere

Understand

The nearly 100% linear polarization has been reported for a few fast radio bursts.

• This finding places severe limits on the emission mechanism.
• I argue that the totally polarized radiation could be generated in the course of relativistic magnetic reconnection in the outer magnetosphere of the magnetar.
• At the onset of the magnetar flare, a large scale magnetic perturbation forms a magnetic pulse, which propagates from the flare cite outwards.