The Physical Origin of the Periodic Activity for FRB 20180916B

Abstract Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are transient radio signals with millisecond-duration, large dispersion measure and extremely high brightness temperature. Among them, FRB 20180916B has been found to have a 16 days periodically modulated activity. However, the physical origin of the periodicity is still a mystery. Here, we utilize the comprehensive observational data to diagnose the periodic models. We find that the ultralong rotation model is the most probable one for the periodic activity. However, this model cannot reproduce the observed rotation measure (RM) variations. We propose a self-consistent model, i.e., a massive star binary containing a slowly rotational neutron star and a massive star with large mass loss, which can naturally accommodate the wealth of observational features for FRB 20180916B. In this model, the RM variation is periodic, which can be tested by future observations.