Origin of the characteristic memory timescales

Determine whether the approximately one-hour waiting-time break and the corresponding event-rate coherence timescale in FRB 20240114A are intrinsic properties of the magnetar or artifacts of the observational window, using longer-duration monitoring of FRB 20240114A and other hyperactive repeating fast radio bursts.

Background

The paper identifies an approximately one-hour characteristic timescale in FRB 20240114A through two statistical diagnostics: the waiting-time R/S analysis of the full 214-day sample shows a break near 3495 seconds, while the event-rate coherence analysis of the MJD 60381 observing session detects coherent structures up to 3600 seconds. The close numerical agreement suggests that both features may trace a common physical scale in the burst process.

However, the waiting-time break is inferred by converting burst-index lags into physical time using the average burst rate, and the coherence analysis is limited by the 4.38-hour duration of the observing window. Consequently, the observed timescale could reflect intrinsic magnetar dynamics, such as a characteristic triggering or energy-release process, or arise partly from observational-window and sampling effects. The paper leaves this distinction unresolved and motivates longer monitoring of this and other hyperactive repeaters.