LOFAR Detection of 110-188MHz emission and frequency-dependent activity from FRB20180916B
Journal article, 2021

The object FRB 20180916B is a well-studied repeating fast radio burst source. Its proximity (∼150 Mpc), along with detailed studies of the bursts, has revealed many clues about its nature, including a 16.3 day periodicity in its activity. Here we report on the detection of 18 bursts using LOFAR at 110-188 MHz, by far the lowest-frequency detections of any FRB to date. Some bursts are seen down to the lowest observed frequency of 110 MHz, suggesting that their spectra extend even lower. These observations provide an order-of-magnitude stronger constraint on the optical depth due to freëCfree absorption in the source's local environment. The absence of circular polarization and nearly flat polarization angle curves are consistent with burst properties seen at 300-1700 MHz. Compared with higher frequencies, the larger burst widths (∼40-160 ms at 150 MHz) and lower linear polarization fractions are likely due to scattering. We find ∼2-3 rad m variations in the Faraday rotation measure that may be correlated with the activity cycle of the source. We compare the LOFAR burst arrival times to those of 38 previously published and 22 newly detected bursts from the uGMRT (200-450 MHz) and CHIME/FRB (400-800 MHz). Simultaneous observations show five CHIME/FRB bursts when no emission is detected by LOFAR. We find that the burst activity is systematically delayed toward lower frequencies by about 3 days from 600 to 150 MHz. We discuss these results in the context of a model in which FRB 20180916B is an interacting binary system featuring a neutron star and high-mass stellar companion.

Author

Z. Pleunis

McGill University

D. Michilli

McGill University

C. G. Bassa

Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)

J. W. T. Hessels

Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)

University of Amsterdam

A. Naidu

University of Oxford

B. Andersen

McGill University

P. Chawla

McGill University

E. Fonseca

West Virginia University

McGill University

A. Gopinath

Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)

University of Amsterdam

V. M. Kaspi

McGill University

V. I. Kondratiev

Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)

Russian Academy of Sciences

D. Z. Li

University of Toronto

Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics

M. Bhardwaj

McGill University

P. J. Boyle

McGill University

C. Brar

McGill University

T. Cassanelli

University of Toronto

Y. Gupta

National Centre for Radio Astrophysics India

A. Josephy

McGill University

R. Karuppusamy

Max Planck Society

A. Keimpema

Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry European Research Infrastructure Consortium (JIVE)

Franz Kirsten

Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics

C. Leung

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

B. Marcote

Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry European Research Infrastructure Consortium (JIVE)

K. Masui

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

R. Mckinven

University of Toronto

B. W. Meyers

University of British Columbia (UBC)

C. Ng

University of Toronto

K. Nimmo

University of Amsterdam

Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)

Z. Paragi

Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry European Research Infrastructure Consortium (JIVE)

M. Rahman

University of Toronto

Sidrat Research

P. Scholz

University of Toronto

K. Shin

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

K. M. Smith

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

I. H. Stairs

University of British Columbia (UBC)

S. P. Tendulkar

National Centre for Radio Astrophysics India

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research

Astrophysical Journal Letters

2041-8205 (ISSN) 2041-8213 (eISSN)

Vol. 911 1 L3

Subject Categories

Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics

DOI

10.3847/2041-8213/abec72

More information

Latest update

5/12/2021