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Fast radio bursts (FRBs) can present a variety of polarization properties and some of them are characterized by narrow spectra. In this work, we study spectral properties from the perspective of intrinsic radiation mechanisms and absorption through the waves propagating in the magnetosphere. The intrinsic radiation mechanisms are considered by invoking quasi-periodic bunch distribution and perturbations on charged bunches moving on curved trajectories. The narrowband emission is likely to reflect some quasi-periodic structure on the bulk of bunches, which may be due to quasi-periodically sparking in a "gap" or quasi-monochromatic Langmuir waves. A sharp spike would appear in the spectrum if the perturbations were to induce a monochromatic oscillation of bunches; however, it is difficult to create a narrow spectrum because the Lorentz factor has large fluctuations, so the spike disappears. Both the bunching mechanism and perturbations scenarios share the same polarization properties, with a uniformly distributed bulk of bunches. We investigated the absorption effects, including Landau damping and curvature self-absorption in the magnetosphere, which are significant at low frequencies. Subluminous O-mode photons cannot escape from the magnetosphere due to the Landau damping, leading to a height-dependent lower frequency cut-off. The spectra can be narrow when the frequency cut-off is close to the characteristic frequency of curvature radiation, however, such conditions cannot always be met. The spectral index is 5/3 at low-frequency bands due to the curvature self-absorption is not as steep as what is seen in observations. The intrinsic radiation mechanisms are more likely to generate the observed narrow spectra of FRBs, rather than the absorption effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coherent curvature radiation by charged bunches has been discussed as the radiation mechanism for radio pulsars and fast radio bursts. Important issues for this radiation mechanism include how the bunches form and disperse in the magnetosphere of a pulsar or magnetar. More likely, bunches form and disperse continuously and it remains unclear what the spectral features are for these fluctuating bunches. In this work, we consider that the bunches in a magnetosphere have a formation rate of λ B , a lifetime of τ B , and a typical Lorentz factor of γ, and analyse the spectral features of coherent curvature radiation by these fluctuating bunches. We find that the emission spectrum by a single fluctuating bunch is suppressed by a factor of ∼(λ B τ B )2 compared with that of a single persistent bunch, and there is a quasi-white noise in a wider band in the frequency domain. The high-frequency cutoff of the spectrum is at ∼max (ωpeak, 2γ2/τ B ), where ωpeak is the peak frequency of curvature radiation. If the observed spectrum is not white-noise-like, the condition of 2γ2λ B ≳ min (ωpeak, 2γ2/τ B ) would be required. Besides, the radiation by multiple fluctuating bunches along a field line is the incoherent summation of the radiation by single bunches if the bunch separation is longer than the wavelength. Conversely, a coherent summation should be involved. We also discuss the effects of bunch structures and the mechanism of bunch formation and dispersion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spider pulsars are millisecond pulsars in short-period (≲12-h) orbits with low-mass (~0.01–0.4 M⊙) companion stars. The pulsars ablate plasma from the companion star, causing time delays and eclipses of the radio emission from the pulsar. The magnetic field of the companion has been proposed to strongly influence both the evolution of the binary system1 and the eclipse properties of the pulsar emission2. Changes in the rotation measure (RM) have been seen in a spider system, implying that there is an increase in the magnetic field near the eclipse3. Here we report a diverse range of evidence for a highly magnetized environment in the spider system PSR B1744 – 24A4, located in the globular cluster Terzan 5. We observe semi-regular profile changes to the circular polarization, V, when the pulsar emission passes close to the companion. This suggests that there is Faraday conversion where the radio wave tracks a reversal in the parallel magnetic field and constrains the companion magnetic field, B (> 10 G). We also see irregular, fast changes in the RM at random orbital phases, implying that the magnetic strength of the stellar wind, B, is greater than 10 mG. There are similarities between the unusual polarization behaviour of PSR B1744 – 24A and some repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs)5–7. Together with the possible binary-produced long-term periodicity of two active repeating FRBs8,9, and the discovery of a nearby FRB in a globular cluster10, where pulsar binaries are common, these similarities suggest that a proportion of FRBs have binary companions.The observation of pulsar emission at various orbital phases of a companion star probes the diverse magnetic structure in a binary system, and exhibits varying polarization behavior, akin to that observed in certain fast radio bursts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, some fast radio burst (FRB) repeaters were reported to exhibit complex, diverse variations of Faraday rotation measures (RMs), which implies that they are surrounded by an inhomogeneous, dynamically evolving, magnetized environment. We systematically investigate some possible astrophysical processes that may cause RM variations of an FRB repeater. The processes include (1) a supernova remnant (SNR) with a fluctuating medium; (2) a binary system with stellar winds from a massive/giant star companion or stellar flares from a low-mass star companion; (3) a pair plasma medium from a neutron star (including pulsar winds, pulsar wind nebulae, and magnetar flares); (4) outflows from a massive black hole. For the SNR scenario, a large relative RM variation within a few years requires that the SNR is young with a thin and local anisotropic shell, or the size of dense gas clouds in interstellar/circumstellar medium around the SNR is extremely small. If the RM variation is caused by the companion medium in a binary system, it is more likely from the stellar winds of a massive/giant star companion. The RM variation contributed by stellar flares from a low-mass star is disfavored, because this scenario predicts an extremely large relative RM variation during a short period of time. The scenarios invoking a pair plasma from a neutron star can be ruled out due to their extremely low RM contributions. Outflows from a massive black hole could provide a large RM variation if the FRB source is in the vicinity of the black hole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]