A Search for Persistent Radio Sources toward Repeating Fast Radio Bursts Discovered by CHIME/FRB
Journal article, 2024
The identification of persistent radio sources (PRSs) coincident with two repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs) supports FRB theories requiring a compact central engine. However, deep nondetections in other cases highlight the diversity of repeating FRBs and their local environments. Here, we perform a systematic search for radio sources towards 37 CHIME/FRB repeaters using their arcminute localizations and a combination of archival surveys and targeted observations. Through multiwavelength analysis of individual radio sources, we identify two (20181030A-S1 and 20190417A-S1) for which we disfavor an origin of either star formation or an active galactic nucleus in their host galaxies and thus consider them candidate PRSs. We do not find any associated PRSs for the majority of the repeating FRBs in our sample. For eight FRB fields with Very Large Array imaging, we provide deep limits on the presence of PRSs that are 2-4 orders of magnitude fainter than the PRS associated with FRB 20121102A. Using Very Large Array Sky Survey imaging of all 37 fields, we constrain the rate of luminous (≳1040 erg s−1) PRSs associated with repeating FRBs to be low. Within the context of FRB-PRS models, we find that 20181030A-S1 and 20190417A-S1 can be reasonably explained within the context of magnetar, hypernebulae, gamma-ray burst afterglow, or supernova ejecta models—although we note that both sources follow the radio luminosity versus rotation measure relationship predicted in the nebula model framework. Future observations will be required to both further characterize and confirm the association of these PRS candidates with the FRBs.
Author
Adaeze L. Ibik
University of Toronto
Maria R. Drout
University of Toronto
B. Gaensler
University of Toronto
University of California
P. Scholz
York University
University of Toronto
Navin Sridhar
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Columbia University
Ben Margalit
University of Minnesota
T. E. Clarke
Naval Research Laboratory
C. Law
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
S. P. Tendulkar
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
National Centre for Radio Astrophysics India
D. Michilli
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Tarraneh Eftekhari
Northwestern University
M. Bhardwaj
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)
S. Burke-Spolaor
West Virginia University
S. Chatterjee
Cornell University
Amanda M. Cook
University of Toronto
J. W. T. Hessels
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy
McGill University
Franz Kirsten
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory
Ronniy C. Joseph
McGill University
Victoria M. Kaspi
McGill University
Mattias Lazda
University of Toronto
Kiyoshi W. Masui
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
K. Nimmo
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Ayush Pandhi
University of Toronto
A. B. Pearlman
McGill University
Z. Pleunis
University of Toronto
Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
M. Rafiei-Ravandi
McGill University
K. Shin
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
K. M. Smith
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Astrophysical Journal
0004-637X (ISSN) 1538-4357 (eISSN)
Vol. 976 2 199Onsala space observatory infrastructure
Swedish Research Council (VR) (2017-00648), 2018-01-01 -- 2021-12-31.
Subject Categories (SSIF 2011)
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
DOI
10.3847/1538-4357/ad808e