A repeating fast radio burst source localized to a nearby spiral galaxy
Journal article, 2020
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are brief, bright, extragalactic radio flashes1,2. Their physical origin remains unknown, but dozens of possible models have been postulated3. Some FRB sources exhibit repeat bursts4–7. Although over a hundred FRB sources have been discovered8, only four have been localized and associated with a host galaxy9–12, and just one of these four is known to emit repeating FRBs9. The properties of the host galaxies, and the local environments of FRBs, could provide important clues about their physical origins. The first known repeating FRB, however, was localized to a low-metallicity, irregular dwarf galaxy, and the apparently non-repeating sources were localized to higher-metallicity, massive elliptical or star-forming galaxies, suggesting that perhaps the repeating and apparently non-repeating sources could have distinct physical origins. Here we report the precise localization of a second repeating FRB source6, FRB 180916.J0158+65, to a star-forming region in a nearby (redshift 0.0337 ± 0.0002) massive spiral galaxy, whose properties and proximity distinguish it from all known hosts. The lack of both a comparably luminous persistent radio counterpart and a high Faraday rotation measure6 further distinguish the local environment of FRB 180916.J0158+65 from that of the single previously localized repeating FRB source, FRB 121102. This suggests that repeating FRBs may have a wide range of luminosities, and originate from diverse host galaxies and local environments.
Author
B. Marcote
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)
K. Nimmo
University of Amsterdam
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
J. W. T. Hessels
University of Amsterdam
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
S. P. Tendulkar
McGill University
C. G. Bassa
Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON)
Z. Paragi
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)
A. Keimpema
Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE)
M. Bhardwaj
McGill University
R. Karuppusamy
Max Planck Society
V. M. Kaspi
McGill University
C. J. Law
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
D. Michilli
McGill University
K. Aggarwal
West Virginia University
B. Andersen
McGill University
A. M. Archibald
Newcastle University
University of Amsterdam
K. Bandura
West Virginia University
G. C. Bower
Academia Sinica
P. J. Boyle
McGill University
C. Brar
McGill University
S. Burke-Spolaor
West Virginia University
B. Butler
National Radio Astronomy Observatory Socorro
T. Cassanelli
University of Toronto
P. Chawla
McGill University
P. Demorest
National Radio Astronomy Observatory Socorro
M. Dobbs
McGill University
E. Fonseca
McGill University
U. Giri
University of Waterloo
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
D. C. Good
University of British Columbia (UBC)
K. Gourdji
University of Amsterdam
A. Josephy
McGill University
A. Yu Kirichenko
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Russian Academy of Sciences
Franz Kirsten
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
T. L. Landecker
National Research Council Canada
D. Lang
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
T. Joseph W. Lazio
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
D. Z. Li
University of Toronto
Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics
H. H. Lin
Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics
Justin D. Linford
National Radio Astronomy Observatory Socorro
K. Masui
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
J. Mena-Parra
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
A. Naidu
McGill University
C. Ng
University of Toronto
C. Patel
McGill University
U. L. Pen
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics
University of Toronto
Z. Pleunis
McGill University
M. Rafiei-Ravandi
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
M. Rahman
University of Toronto
A. Renard
University of Toronto
P. Scholz
University of Toronto
National Research Council Canada
S. R. Siegel
McGill University
K. M. Smith
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
I. H. Stairs
University of British Columbia (UBC)
K. Vanderlinde
University of Toronto
A. V. Zwaniga
McGill University
Nature
0028-0836 (ISSN) 1476-4687 (eISSN)
Vol. 577 7789 190-194Subject Categories
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
DOI
10.1038/s41586-019-1866-z
PubMed
31907402