Implications from the Upper Limit of Radio Afterglow Emission of FRB 131104/Swift J0644.5-5111

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2017

Publication Title

Astrophysical Journal Letters

Volume

835

Issue

2

Abstract

A γ-ray transient, Swift J0644.5-5111, has been claimed to be associated with FRB 131104. However, a long-term radio imaging follow-up observation only placed an upper limit on the radio afterglow flux of Swift J0644.5-5111. Applying the external shock model, we perform a detailed constraint on the afterglow parameters for the FRB 131104/Swift J0644.5-5111 system. We find that for the commonly used microphysics shock parameters (e.g., , , and p = 2.3), if the fast radio burst (FRB) is indeed cosmological as inferred from its measured dispersion measure (DM), the ambient medium number density should be , which is the typical value for a compact binary merger environment but disfavors a massive star origin. Assuming a typical ISM density, one would require that the redshift of the FRB be much smaller than the value inferred from DM (), implying a non-cosmological origin of DM. The constraints are much looser if one adopts smaller and values, as observed in some gamma-ray burst afterglows. The FRB 131104/Swift J0644.5-5111 association remains plausible. We critically discuss possible progenitor models for the system. � 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..

Language

english

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