A repeating fast radio burst source localized to a nearby spiral galaxy
Journal article, 2020

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are brief, bright, extragalactic radio flashes1,2. Their physical origin remains unknown, but dozens of possible models have been postulated3. Some FRB sources exhibit repeat bursts4–7. Although over a hundred FRB sources have been discovered8, only four have been localized and associated with a host galaxy9–12, and just one of these four is known to emit repeating FRBs9. The properties of the host galaxies, and the local environments of FRBs, could provide important clues about their physical origins. The first known repeating FRB, however, was localized to a low-metallicity, irregular dwarf galaxy, and the apparently non-repeating sources were localized to higher-metallicity, massive elliptical or star-forming galaxies, suggesting that perhaps the repeating and apparently non-repeating sources could have distinct physical origins. Here we report the precise localization of a second repeating FRB source6, FRB 180916.J0158+65, to a star-forming region in a nearby (redshift 0.0337 ± 0.0002) massive spiral galaxy, whose properties and proximity distinguish it from all known hosts. The lack of both a comparably luminous persistent radio counterpart and a high Faraday rotation measure6 further distinguish the local environment of FRB 180916.J0158+65 from that of the single previously localized repeating FRB source, FRB 121102. This suggests that repeating FRBs may have a wide range of luminosities, and originate from diverse host galaxies and local environments.

Author

B. Marcote

Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)

K. Nimmo

University of Amsterdam

Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)

J. W. T. Hessels

University of Amsterdam

Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)

S. P. Tendulkar

McGill University

C. G. Bassa

Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)

Z. Paragi

Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)

A. Keimpema

Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)

M. Bhardwaj

McGill University

R. Karuppusamy

Max Planck Society

V. M. Kaspi

McGill University

C. J. Law

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

D. Michilli

McGill University

K. Aggarwal

West Virginia University

B. Andersen

McGill University

A. M. Archibald

Newcastle University

University of Amsterdam

K. Bandura

West Virginia University

G. C. Bower

Academia Sinica

P. J. Boyle

McGill University

C. Brar

McGill University

S. Burke-Spolaor

West Virginia University

B. Butler

National Radio Astronomy Observatory Socorro

T. Cassanelli

University of Toronto

P. Chawla

McGill University

P. Demorest

National Radio Astronomy Observatory Socorro

M. Dobbs

McGill University

E. Fonseca

McGill University

U. Giri

University of Waterloo

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

D. C. Good

University of British Columbia (UBC)

K. Gourdji

University of Amsterdam

A. Josephy

McGill University

A. Yu Kirichenko

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Russian Academy of Sciences

Franz Kirsten

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics

T. L. Landecker

National Research Council Canada

D. Lang

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

T. Joseph W. Lazio

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

D. Z. Li

University of Toronto

Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics

H. H. Lin

Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics

Justin D. Linford

National Radio Astronomy Observatory Socorro

K. Masui

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

J. Mena-Parra

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

A. Naidu

McGill University

C. Ng

University of Toronto

C. Patel

McGill University

U. L. Pen

Canadian Institute for Advanced Research

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics

University of Toronto

Z. Pleunis

McGill University

M. Rafiei-Ravandi

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

M. Rahman

University of Toronto

A. Renard

University of Toronto

P. Scholz

University of Toronto

National Research Council Canada

S. R. Siegel

McGill University

K. M. Smith

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

I. H. Stairs

University of British Columbia (UBC)

K. Vanderlinde

University of Toronto

A. V. Zwaniga

McGill University

Nature

0028-0836 (ISSN) 1476-4687 (eISSN)

Vol. 577 7789 190-194

Subject Categories

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

DOI

10.1038/s41586-019-1866-z

PubMed

31907402

More information

Latest update

3/29/2022