Discovery of an Extremely Luminous Sporadic Radio Pulsar

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Abstract
We have discovered PSR J2108+5055, an extremely luminous but sporadic mode-changing rotating radio transient (RRAT), with a period of 0.495 s using the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) Fast Radio Burst (FRB) instrument. We show that the brightest pulse from PSR J2108+5055 has a flux density of 3.1 ± 1.0 kJy, corresponding to a spectral luminosity of (7.5 ± 2.3) × 10 23 erg s −1 Hz −1 , assuming a dispersion-measure-derived distance of 1.6 ± 0.3 kpc. We place an upper limit on the duty cycle of PSR J2108+5055 at 0.002 and measure a surface magnetic field of 5.8 × 10 11 G, a characteristic age of 1.2 × 10 7 yr, and a spindown luminosity of 2.2 × 10 32 erg s −1 . Using a simple model based on the Green Bank North Celestial Cap (GBNCC) survey, we place an upper limit on the number of PSR J2108+5055–like sources with similar peak flux densities in the GBNCC survey area of ∼80 RRATs. We show that if PSR J2108+5055 were placed at the edge of the Local Group of galaxies, the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) would detect its brightest pulse. The second brightest pulse has a peak flux density of 1.5 ± 0.7 kJy, and FAST would detect such a pulse out to ∼1 Mpc, covering the inner Local Group, including Andromeda.
Funding Information
  • National Research Council Canada (?)
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NSSC25M7079)
  • National Science Foundation (ST-2407399)
  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (22873813)
  • National Science Foundation (2008031)
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration (HST-HF2-51584.001-A)
  • Canada Excellence Research Chairs, Government of Canada (2022-00009)
  • EC ∣ European Research Council (101098079)
  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (2025-0668)
  • EC ∣ European Research Council (101223057)
  • National Science Foundation (2020265)
  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (2024-06266)

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