Transparency of Fast Radio Burst Waves in Magnetar Magnetospheres

Understand

At least some fast radio bursts (FRBs) are produced by magnetars.

• Even though mounting observational evidence points towards a magnetospheric origin of FRB emission, the question of the location for FRB generation continues to be debated.
• One argument suggested against the magnetospheric origin of bright FRBs is that the radio waves associated with an FRB may lose most of their energy before escaping the magnetosphere because the cross-section for $e^\pm$ to scatter large-amplitude EM waves in the presence of a strong magnetic field is much larger than the Thompson cross-section.
• We have investigated this suggestion and find that FRB radiation traveling through the open field line region of a magnetar's magnetosphere does not suffer much loss due to two previously ignored factors.