The 60 pc Environment of FRB 20180916B
Journal article, 2021
Fast radio burst FRB 20180916B in its host galaxy SDSS J015800.28+654253.0 at 149 Mpc is by far the closest-known FRB with a robust host galaxy association. The source also exhibits a 16.35 day period in its bursting. Here we present optical and infrared imaging as well as integral field spectroscopy observations of FRB 20180916B with the WFC3 camera on the Hubble Space Telescope and the MEGARA spectrograph on the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias. The 60-90 milliarcsecond (mas) resolution of the Hubble imaging, along with the previous 2.3 mas localization of FRB 20180916B, allows us to probe its environment with a 30-60 pc resolution. We constrain any point-like star formation or H ii region at the location of FRB 20180916B to have an H alpha luminosity L-H alpha less than or similar to 10(37) erg s(-1), and we correspondingly constrain the local star formation rate to be less than or similar to 10(-4) M yr(-1). The constraint on H alpha suggests that possible stellar companions to FRB 20180916B should be of a cooler, less massive spectral type than O6V. FRB 20180916B is 250 pc away (in projected distance) from the brightest pixel of the nearest young stellar clump, which is similar to 380 pc in size (FWHM). With the typical projected velocities of pulsars, magnetars, or neutron stars in binaries (60-750 km s(-1)), FRB 20180916B would need 800 kyr to 7 Myr to traverse the observed distance from its presumed birth site. This timescale is inconsistent with the active ages of magnetars (less than or similar to 10 kyr). Rather, the inferred age and observed separation are compatible with the ages of high-mass X-ray binaries and gamma-ray binaries, and their separations from the nearest OB associations.
Hubble Space Telescope
Magnetars
High mass x-ray binary stars
Radio transient sources
Author
Shriharsh P. Tendulkar
National Centre for Radio Astrophysics India
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Armando Gil de Paz
Complutense University
Aida Yu Kirichenko
Russian Academy of Sciences
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Jason W. T. Hessels
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
University of Amsterdam
Mohit Bhardwaj
McGill University
Fernando Avila
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Cees Bassa
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
Pragya Chawla
McGill University
Emmanuel Fonseca
West Virginia University
McGill University
Victoria M. Kaspi
McGill University
Aard Keimpema
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)
Franz Kirsten
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
T. Joseph W. Lazio
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Benito Marcote
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)
Kiyoshi Masui
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Kenzie Nimmo
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
University of Amsterdam
Zsolt Paragi
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)
Mubdi Rahman
University of Toronto
Sidrat Research
Daniel Reverte Paya
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
Gran Telescopio Canarias (GRANTECAN)
Paul Scholz
University of Toronto
Ingrid Stairs
University of British Columbia (UBC)
Astrophysical Journal Letters
2041-8205 (ISSN) 2041-8213 (eISSN)
Vol. 908 1 L12Subject Categories
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Geology
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
DOI
10.3847/2041-8213/abdb38