Simultaneous X-Ray, Gamma-Ray, and Radio Observations of the Repeating Fast Radio Burst FRB 121102
Abstract
We undertook coordinated campaigns with the Green Bank, Effelsberg, and Arecibo radio telescopes during Chandra X-ray Observatory and XMM-Newton observations of the repeating fast radio burst FRB 121102 to search for simultaneous radio and X-ray bursts. We find 12 radio bursts from FRB 121102 during 70 ks total of X-ray observations. We detect no X-ray photons at the times of radio bursts from FRB 121102 and further detect no X-ray bursts above the measured background at any time. We place a 5σ upper limit of 3 × 10-11 erg cm-2 on the 0.5-10 keV fluence for X-ray bursts at the time of radio bursts for durations < 700 ms, which corresponds to a burst energy of 4 × 1045 erg at the measured distance of FRB 121102. We also place limits on the 0.5-10 keV fluence of 5 × 10-10 and 1 × 10-9 erg cm-2 for bursts emitted at any time during the XMM-Newton and Chandra observations, respectively, assuming a typical X-ray burst duration of 5 ms. We analyze data from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Gamma-ray Burst Monitor and place a 5σ upper limit on the 10-100 keV fluence of 4 × 10-9 erg cm-2 (5 × 1047 erg at the distance of FRB 121102) for gamma-ray bursts at the time of radio bursts. We also present a deep search for a persistent X-ray source using all of the X-ray observations taken to date and place a 5σ upper limit on the 0.5-10 keV flux of 4 × 10-15 erg s-1 cm-2 (3 × 1041 erg s-1 at the distance of FRB 121102). We discuss these non-detections in the context of the host environment of FRB 121102 and of possible sources of fast radio bursts in general.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- September 2017
- DOI:
- 10.3847/1538-4357/aa8456
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1705.07824
- Bibcode:
- 2017ApJ...846...80S
- Keywords:
-
- gamma rays: general;
- stars: neutron;
- X-rays: bursts;
- X-rays: general;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
- E-Print:
- 13 pages, 5 figures, published in ApJ