No Pulsed Radio Emission During a Bursting Phase of a Galactic Magnetar

Authors

L. Lin, Beijing Normal University
C. F. Zhang, Peking University
P. Wang, Chinese Academy of Sciences
H. Gao, Beijing Normal University
X. Guan, Chinese Academy of Sciences
J. L. Han, Chinese Academy of Sciences
J. C. Jiang, Peking University
P. Jiang, Chinese Academy of Sciences
K. J. Lee, Chinese Academy of Sciences
D. Li, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Y. P. Men, Peking University
C. C. Miao, Chinese Academy of Sciences
J. R. Niu, Chinese Academy of Sciences
C. Sun, Chinese Academy of Sciences
B. J. Wang, Peking University
Z. L. Wang, Chinese Academy of Sciences
H. Xu, Peking University
J. L. Xu, Chinese Academy of Sciences
J. W. Xu, Peking University
Y. H. Yang, Nanjing University
Y. P. Yang, Yunnan University
W. Yu, Chinese Academy of Science
B. Zhang, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
B.-B. Zhang, Nanjing University
D. J. Zhou, Chinese Academy of Sciences
W. W. Zhu, Chinese Academy of Sciences
A. J. Castro-Tirado, Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía
Z. G. Dai, Nanjing University
M. Y. Ge, Institute of High Energy Physics
Y. D. Hu, Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía
C. K. Li, Institute of High Energy Phsyics

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-4-2020

Publication Title

Nature

Volume

587

Issue

7832

First page number:

63

Last page number:

76

Abstract

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration radio transients of unknown physical origin observed at extragalactic distances(1-3). It has long been speculated that magnetars are the engine powering repeating bursts from FRB sources(4-13), but no convincing evidence has been collected so far(14). Recently, the Galactic magnetar SRG 1935+2154 entered an active phase by emitting intense soft gamma-ray bursts(15). One FRB-like event with two peaks (FRB 200428) and a luminosity slightly lower than the faintest extragalactic FRBs was detected from the source, in association with a soft gamma-ray/hard-X-ray flare(18-21). Here we report an eight-hour targeted radio observational campaign comprising four sessions and assisted by multi-wavelength (optical and hard-X-ray) data. During the third session, 29 soft-gamma-ray repeater (SGR) bursts were detected in gamma-ray energies. Throughout the observing period, we detected no single dispersed pulsed emission coincident with the arrivals of SGR bursts, but unfortunately we were not observing when the FRB was detected. The non-detection places a fluence upper limit that is eight orders of magnitude lower than the fluence of FRB 200428. Our results suggest that FRB-SGR burst associations are rare. FRBs may be highly relativistic and geometrically beamed, or FRB-like events associated with SGR bursts may have narrow spectra and characteristic frequencies outside the observed band. It is also possible that the physical conditions required to achieve coherent radiation in SGR bursts are difficult to satisfy, and that only under extreme conditions could an FRB be associated with an SGR burst. An 8-hour radio observational campaign of the Galactic magnetar SGR 1915+2154, assisted by multi-wavelength data, indicates that associations between fast radio bursts and soft gamma-ray bursts are rare.

Keywords

Fast radio bursts; Galactic magnetar; soft gamma-ray; Hard x-ray flare; Multi-wavelength data

Disciplines

Astrophysics and Astronomy | Physical Sciences and Mathematics | Physics

Language

English

Repository Citation

Lin, L., Zhang, C. F., Wang, P., Gao, H., Guan, X., Han, J. L., Jiang, J. C., Jiang, P., Lee, K. J., Li, D., Men, Y. P., Miao, C. C., Niu, J. R., Sun, C., Wang, B. J., Wang, Z. L., Xu, H., Xu, J. L., Xu, J. W., Yang, Y. H., Yang, Y. P., Yu, W., Zhang, B., Zhang, B., Zhou, D. J., Zhu, W. W., Castro-Tirado, A. J., Dai, Z. G., Ge, M. Y., Hu, Y. D., Li, C. K. (2020). No Pulsed Radio Emission During a Bursting Phase of a Galactic Magnetar. Nature, 587(7832), 63-76.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2839-y