A burst storm from the repeating FRB 20200120E in an M81 globular cluster
Journal article, 2023
The repeating fast radio burst (FRB) source FRB 20200120E is exceptional because of its proximity and association with a globular cluster. Here we report 60 bursts detected with the Effelsberg telescope at 1.4 GHz. We observe large variations in the burst rate, and report the first FRB 20200120E 'burst storm', where the source suddenly became active and 53 bursts (fluence ≥0.04 Jy ms) occurred within only 40 min. We find no strict periodicity in the burst arrival times, nor any evidence for periodicity in the source's activity between observations. The burst storm shows a steep energy distribution (power-law index α = 2.39 ± 0.12) and a bimodal wait-time distribution, with log-normal means of 0.94+0.07−0.06 s and 23.61+3.06−2.71 s. We attribute these wait-time distribution peaks to a characteristic event time-scale and pseudo-Poisson burst rate, respectively. The secondary wait-time peak at ∼1 s is ∼50 × longer than the ∼24 ms time-scale seen for both FRB 20121102A and FRB 20201124A - potentially indicating a larger emission region, or slower burst propagation. FRB 20200120E shows order-of-magnitude lower burst durations and luminosities compared with FRB 20121102A and FRB 20201124A. Lastly, in contrast to FRB 20121102A, which has observed dispersion measure (DM) variations of ΔDM > 1 pc cm−3 on month-to-year time-scales, we determine that FRB 20200120E's DM has remained stable (ΔDM < 0.15 pc cm−3) over >10 months. Overall, the observational characteristics of FRB 20200120E deviate quantitatively from other active repeaters, but it is unclear whether it is qualitatively a different type of source.
fast radio bursts
radio continuum: transients
Author
K. Nimmo
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy
J. W. T. Hessels
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy
M. P. Snelders
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy
R. Karuppusamy
Max Planck Society
D. M. Hewitt
Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy
Franz Kirsten
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory
B. Marcote
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)
U. Bach
Max Planck Society
A. Bansod
Max Planck Society
E. D. Barr
Max Planck Society
J. Behrend
Max Planck Society
V. Bezrukovs
Ventspils Augstskola
S. Buttaccio
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
R. Feiler
Nicolaus Copernicus University
M. P.Gawron Ski
Nicolaus Copernicus University
Michael Lindqvist
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory
A. Orbidans
Ventspils Augstskola
W. Puchalska
Nicolaus Copernicus University
N. Wang
Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory
T. Winchen
Max Planck Society
P. Wolak
Nicolaus Copernicus University
J. Wu
Max Planck Society
J. P. Yuan
Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
0035-8711 (ISSN) 1365-2966 (eISSN)
Vol. 520 2 2281-2305Opticon RadioNet Pilot
European Commission (EC) (EC/H2020/101004719), 2021-03-01 -- 2025-02-28.
Subject Categories
Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
DOI
10.1093/mnras/stad269