The Host Galaxies and Progenitors of Fast Radio Bursts Localized with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder

The Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope has started to localize fast radio bursts (FRBs) to arcsecond accuracy from the detection of a single pulse, allowing their host galaxies to be reliably identified. We discuss the global properties of the host galaxies of the first four FRBs localized...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Astrophysical journal. Letters 2020-06, Vol.895 (2), p.L37
Main Authors: Bhandari, Shivani, Sadler, Elaine M., Prochaska, J. Xavier, Simha, Sunil, Ryder, Stuart D., Marnoch, Lachlan, Bannister, Keith W., Macquart, Jean-Pierre, Flynn, Chris, Shannon, Ryan M., Tejos, Nicolas, Corro-Guerra, Felipe, Day, Cherie K., Deller, Adam T., Ekers, Ron, Lopez, Sebastian, Mahony, Elizabeth K., Nuñez, Consuelo, Phillips, Chris
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Active galactic nuclei
Astronomical models
Dwarf galaxies
Galaxies
Gamma rays
Magnetars
Radio bursts
Radio continuum emission
Red shift
Star & galaxy formation
Star formation
Star formation rate
Stars & galaxies
Supernovae
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Summary:The Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope has started to localize fast radio bursts (FRBs) to arcsecond accuracy from the detection of a single pulse, allowing their host galaxies to be reliably identified. We discuss the global properties of the host galaxies of the first four FRBs localized by ASKAP, which lie in the redshift range 0.11 < z < 0.48. All four are massive galaxies (log(M*/M ) ∼ 9.4-10.4) with modest star formation rates of up to 2 M yr−1-very different to the host galaxy of the first repeating FRB 121102, which is a dwarf galaxy with a high specific star formation rate. The FRBs localized by ASKAP typically lie in the outskirts of their host galaxies, which appears to rule out FRB progenitor models that invoke active galactic nuclei or free-floating cosmic strings. The stellar population seen in these host galaxies also disfavors models in which all FRBs arise from young magnetars produced by superluminous supernovae, as proposed for the progenitor of FRB 121102. A range of other progenitor models (including compact-object mergers and magnetars arising from normal core-collapse supernovae) remain plausible.
ISSN:2041-8205
2041-8213
DOI:10.3847/2041-8213/ab672e