The Repeating Fast Radio Burst FRB 121102 as Seen on Milliarcsecond Angular Scales
By B. Marcote, Z. Paragi, Jason W. T. Hessels, A. Keimpema, H. Langevelde, Y. Huang, Cees G. Bassa, S. Bogdanov, G. Bower, S. Burke-Spolaor and 40 more. 2017
256 citations recorded by the source corpus.
The millisecond-duration radio flashes known as fast radio bursts (FRBs) represent an enigmatic astrophysical phenomenon. Recently, the sub-arcsecond localization (∼100 mas precision) of FRB 121102 using the Very Large Array has led to its unambiguous association with persistent radio and optical counterparts, and to the identification of its host galaxy. However, an even more precise localization is needed in order to probe the direct physical relationship between the millisecond bursts themselves and the associated persistent emission. Here, we report very-long-baseline radio interferometric observations using the European VLBI Network and the 305 m Arecibo telescope, which simultaneously detect both the bursts and the persistent radio emission at milliarcsecond angular scales and show that they are co-located to within a projected linear separation of ≲40 pc (≲12 mas angular separation, at 95% confidence). We detect consistent angular broadening of the bursts and persistent radio source (∼2–4 mas at 1.7 GHz), which are both similar to the expected Milky Way scattering contribution. The persistent radio source has a projected size constrained to be ≲ 0.7 pc (≲0.2 mas angular extent at 5.0 GHz) and a lower limit for the brightness temperature of T b ≳ 5 × 10 7 K . Together, these observations provide strong evidence for a direct physical link between FRB 121102 and the compact persistent radio source. We argue that a burst source associated with a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus or a young neutron star energizing a supernova remnant are the two scenarios for FRB 121102 that best match the observed data.
Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/aa549d33f9b0c43f19c8b3c8afc8736577c764f2
How researchers see this paper
The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.
In Astronomy and Astrophysics
Citations in the corpus
- Millisecond Magnetar Birth Connects FRB 121102 to Superluminous Supernovae and Long-duration Gamma-Ray Bursts (2017, methodology): “M 1/4 1 v 3/4 9 , (31) again marginally consistent with the upper limits on the 5 GHz source size Marcote et al. (2017) and the lack of self-absorption at ν & 1.6 GHz (eq.”
- A Concordance Picture of FRB 121102 as a Flaring Magnetar Embedded in a Magnetized Ion–Electron Wind Nebula (2018, background): “66 pc follows from very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) imaging (Marcote et al. 2017).”
- A Flaring Magnetar in FRB 121102? (2017, background): “The bursts and persistent emission are co-located— the upper limit on their projected separation is 40pc (Marcote et al. 2017), and the upper limit on the persistent source size is 0.7pc.”
- Fast radio bursts at the dawn of the 2020s (2021, unknown): “Active repeaters have been found both with (Chatterjee et al. 2017; Marcote et al. 2017; Niu et al. 2021) and without (Marcote et al. 2020; Kirsten et al. 2022; Nimmo et al. 2021c) a compact persistent radio source (which is unrelated to star formation).”
- A “Cosmic Comb” Model of Fast Radio Bursts (2017, background): “The repeating bursts from the FRB 121102 source are not associated with bright transient counterparts in other wavelengths, but the repeater is rather associated with a steady bright radio source (Chatterjee et al. 2017; Marcote et al. 2017; Tendulkar et al. 2017).”
- Lensing of Fast Radio Bursts by Plasma Structures in Host Galaxies (2017, background): “However it is only with the measurement of the redshift of the host galaxy firmly associated with the repeating FRB121102 (Chatterjee et al. 2017; Marcote et al. 2017; Tendulkar et al. 2017) that the extragalactic nature of an FRB has been confirmed without qualification.”
- A burst in a wind bubble and the impact on baryonic ejecta: high-energy gamma-ray flashes and afterglows from fast radio bursts and pulsar-driven supernova remnants (2016, background): “Recently, a radio counterpart of FRB 121102 was reported via the observations by the VLA and the European VLBI Network (EVN), respectively (Chatterjee et al. 2017; Marcote et al. 2017).”
- Fast radio bursts as synchrotron maser emission from decelerating relativistic blast waves (2019, background): “Relevant here is the compact unresolved (< 0.7 pc) luminous persistent synchrotron radio source located coincident with the spatial position of FRB 121102 (Chatterjee et al. 2017; Marcote et al. 2017).”
- Fast radio burst source properties and curvature radiation model (2017, background): “40 pc in physical distance) by the European VLBI Network (Marcote et al. 2017).”