A Repeating Fast Radio Burst Source in a Low-luminosity Dwarf Galaxy
Journal article, 2024
We present the localization and host galaxy of FRB 20190208A, a repeating source of fast radio bursts (FRBs) discovered using CHIME/FRB. As part of the Pinpointing REpeating ChIme Sources with EVN dishes repeater localization program on the European VLBI Network (EVN), we monitored FRB 20190208A for 65.6 hr at ∼1.4 GHz and detected a single burst, which led to its very long baseline interferometry localization with 260 mas uncertainty (2σ). Follow-up optical observations with the MMT Observatory (i ≳ 25.7 mag (AB)) found no visible host at the FRB position. Subsequent deeper observations with the Gran Telescopio Canarias, however, revealed an extremely faint galaxy (r = 27.32 ± 0.16 mag), very likely (99.95%) associated with FRB 20190208A. Given the dispersion measure of the FRB (∼580 pc cm−3), even the most conservative redshift estimate ( z max ∼ 0.83 ) implies that this is the lowest-luminosity FRB host to date (≲108 L ⊙), even less luminous than the dwarf host of FRB 20121102A. We investigate how localization precision and the depth of optical imaging affect host association and discuss the implications of such a low-luminosity dwarf galaxy. Unlike the other repeaters with low-luminosity hosts, FRB 20190208A has a modest Faraday rotation measure of a few tens of rad m−2, and EVN plus Very Large Array observations reveal no associated compact persistent radio source. We also monitored FRB 20190208A for 40.4 hr over 2 yr as part of the Extragalactic Coherent Light from Astrophysical Transients repeating FRB monitoring campaign on the Nançay Radio Telescope and detected one burst. Our results demonstrate that, in some cases, the robust association of an FRB with a host galaxy will require both high localization precision and deep optical follow-up.
Author
Danté M. Hewitt
Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy
M. Bhardwaj
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)
Alexa C. Gordon
Northwestern University
Aida Kirichenko
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
K. Nimmo
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Shivani Bhandari
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy
Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry European Research Infrastructure Consortium (JIVE)
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
I. Cognard
Université Paris PSL
Wen Fai Fong
Northwestern University
A. Gil de Paz
Complutense University
A. Gopinath
Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy
J. W. T. Hessels
McGill University
Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
Franz Kirsten
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory
B. Marcote
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry European Research Infrastructure Consortium (JIVE)
V. Bezrukovs
Ventspils Augstskola
R. Blaauw
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
Justin D. Bray
University of Manchester
S. Buttaccio
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Istituto di Radioastronomia
T. Cassanelli
University of Chile (UCH)
P. Chawla
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy
A. Corongiu
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
William Deng
University of Cambridge
University of Toronto
Hannah N. Didehbani
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Yuxin Dong
Northwestern University
M. P. Gawroński
Nicolaus Copernicus University (SGMK)
M. Giroletti
Istituto di Radioastronomia
Lucas Guillemot
Université Paris PSL
University of Orléans
Jeff Huang
McGill University
Dmitriy V. Ivanov
Russian Academy of Sciences
Ronniy C. Joseph
McGill University
Victoria M. Kaspi
McGill University
M. A. Kharinov
Russian Academy of Sciences
Mattias Lazda
University of Toronto
Michael Lindqvist
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory
G. Maccaferri
Istituto di Radioastronomia
Lluis Mas-Ribas
University of California
Kiyoshi W. Masui
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
R. Mckinven
McGill University
Alexey Melnikov
Russian Academy of Sciences
D. Michilli
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
A. G. Mikhailov
Russian Academy of Sciences
Anya E. Nugent
Northwestern University
O. S. Ould-Boukattine
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy
Z. Paragi
Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry European Research Infrastructure Consortium (JIVE)
A. B. Pearlman
McGill University
U. L. Pen
Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics
University of Toronto
Z. Pleunis
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy
Ketan R. Sand
McGill University
Vishwangi Shah
McGill University
K. Shin
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
M. P. Snelders
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy
T. Venturi
Istituto di Radioastronomia
N. Wang
Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory
David Williams-Baldwin
University of Manchester
Jun Yang
Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory
J. P. Yuan
Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory
Astrophysical Journal Letters
2041-8205 (ISSN) 2041-8213 (eISSN)
Vol. 977 1 L4Onsala space observatory infrastructure
Swedish Research Council (VR) (2017-00648), 2018-01-01 -- 2021-12-31.
Subject Categories (SSIF 2011)
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
DOI
10.3847/2041-8213/ad8ce1