The fast radio burst FRB 20201124A in a star-forming region: Constraints to the progenitor and multiwavelength counterparts

We present the results of a multiwavelength campaign targeting FRB 20201124A, the third closest repeating fast radio burst (FRB), which was recently localized in a nearby ( z = 0.0978) galaxy. Deep VLA observations led to the detection of quiescent radio emission, which was also marginally visible i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin) 2021-12, Vol.656, p.L15
Main Authors: Piro, L., Bruni, G., Troja, E., O’Connor, B., Panessa, F., Ricci, R., Zhang, B., Burgay, M., Dichiara, S., Lee, K. J., Lotti, S., Niu, J. R., Pilia, M., Possenti, A., Trudu, M., Xu, H., Zhu, W. W., Kutyrev, A. S., Veilleux, S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Radio bursts
Star formation
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Summary:We present the results of a multiwavelength campaign targeting FRB 20201124A, the third closest repeating fast radio burst (FRB), which was recently localized in a nearby ( z = 0.0978) galaxy. Deep VLA observations led to the detection of quiescent radio emission, which was also marginally visible in X-rays with Chandra . Imaging at 22 GHz allowed us to resolve the source on a scale of ≳1″ and locate it at the position of the FRB, within an error of 0.2″. The EVN and e-MERLIN observations sampled small angular scales, from 2 to 100 mas, providing tight upper limits on the presence of a compact source and evidence for diffuse radio emission. We argue that this emission is associated with enhanced star formation activity in the proximity of the FRB, corresponding to a star formation rate (SFR) of ≈10  M ⊙  yr −1 . The surface SFR at the location of FRB 20201124A is two orders of magnitude larger than what is typically observed in other precisely localized FRBs. Such a high SFR is indicative of this FRB source being a newborn magnetar produced from a supernova explosion of a massive star progenitor. Upper limits to the X-ray counterparts of 49 radio bursts observed in our simultaneous FAST, SRT, and Chandra campaign are consistent with a magnetar scenario.
ISSN:0004-6361
1432-0746
DOI:10.1051/0004-6361/202141903