What if the Fast Radio Bursts 110220 and 140514 Are from the Same Source?
Abstract
The fast radio bursts (FRBs) 110220 and 140514 were detected at telescope pointing locations within 9 arcmin of each other over three years apart, both within the same 14.4 arcmin beam of the Parkes radio telescope. Nevertheless, they generally have not been considered to be from the same source because of a vastly different dispersion measure (DM) for the two bursts by over 380 {pc} {{cm}}-3. Here, we consider the hypothesis that these two FRBs are from the same neutron star embedded within a supernova remnant (SNR) that provides an evolving DM as the ejecta expands and becomes more diffuse. Using such a model and the observed DM change, it can be argued that the corresponding SN must have occurred within ≈ 10.2 years of FRB 110220. Furthermore, constraints can be placed on the SN ejecta mass and explosion energy, which appear to require a stripped-envelope (Type Ib/c) SN and/or a very energetic explosion. A third FRB from this location would be even more constraining, allowing the component of the DM due to the SNR to be separated from the unchanging DM components due to the host galaxy and intergalactic medium. In the future, if more FRBs are found to repeat, the sort of arguments presented here can be used to test the young neutron star progenitor hypothesis for FRBs.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- June 2017
- DOI:
- 10.3847/2041-8213/aa740d
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1703.03013
- Bibcode:
- 2017ApJ...841L..30P
- Keywords:
-
- pulsars: general;
- radio continuum: general;
- stars: magnetic field;
- stars: neutron;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
- E-Print:
- 6 pages, 2 figures, submitted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters