The Host galaxies and progenitors of fast radio bursts localized with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder

Shivani Bhandari, Elaine M. Sadler, J. Xavier Prochaska, Sunil Simha, Stuart D. Ryder, Lachlan Marnoch, Keith W. Bannister, Jean Pierre MacQuart, Chris Flynn, Ryan M. Shannon, Nicolas Tejos, Felipe Corro-Guerra, Cherie K. Day, Adam T. Deller, Ron Ekers, Sebastian Lopez, Elizabeth K. Mahony, Consuelo Nun˜ez, Chris Phillips

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    58 Citations (Scopus)
    72 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    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.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article numberL37
    Pages (from-to)1-12
    Number of pages12
    JournalAstrophysical Journal Letters
    Volume895
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2020

    Bibliographical note

    Copyright 2020 the American Astronomical Society. First published in Astrophysical journal letters, volume 895, issue 2, article L37. The original publication is available at https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab672e, published by IOP Publishing. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'The Host galaxies and progenitors of fast radio bursts localized with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this