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Register a new userA real-time fast radio burst: polarization detection and multiwavelength follow-up
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Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are one of the most tantalizing mysteries of the radio sky; their progenitors and origins remain unknown and until now no rapid multiwavelength follow-up of an FRB has been possible. New instrumentation has decreased the time between observation and discovery from years to seconds, and enables polarimetry to be performed on FRBs for the first time. We have discovered an FRB (FRB 140514) in real-time on 14 May, 2014 at 17:14:11.06 UTC at the Parkes radio telescope and triggered follow-up at other wavelengths within hours of the event. FRB 140514 was found with a dispersion measure (DM) of 562.7(6) cm$^{-3}$ pc, giving an upper limit on source redshift of $z lesssim 0.5$. FRB 140514 was found to be 21$pm$7% (3-$sigma$) circularly polarized on the leading edge with a 1-$sigma$ upper limit on linear polarization $<10%$. We conclude that this polarization is intrinsic to the FRB. If there was any intrinsic linear polarization, as might be expected from coherent emission, then it may have been depolarized by Faraday rotation caused by passing through strong magnetic fields and/or high density environments. FRB 140514 was discovered during a campaign to re-observe known FRB fields, and lies close to a previous discovery, FRB 110220; based on the difference in DMs of these bursts and time-on-sky arguments, we attribute the proximity to sampling bias and conclude that they are distinct objects. Follow-up conducted by 12 telescopes observing from X-ray to radio wavelengths was unable to identify a variable multiwavelength counterpart, allowing us to rule out models in which FRBs originate from nearby ($z < 0.3$) supernovae and long duration gamma-ray bursts.
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The origin of fast radio bursts (FRBs), bright millisecond radio transients, is still somewhat of a mystery. Several theoretical models expect that the FRB accompanies an optical afterglow (e.g., Totani 2013; Kashiyama et al. 2013). In order to investigate the origin of FRBs, we perform $gri$-band follow-up observations of FRB~151230 (estimated $z lesssim 0.8$) with Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam at $8$, $11$, and $14$~days after discovery. The follow-up observation reaches a $50%$ completeness magnitude of $26.5$~mag for point sources, which is the deepest optical follow-up of FRBs to date. We find $13$ counterpart candidates with variabilities during the observation. We investigate their properties with multicolor and multi-wavelength observations and archival catalogs. Two candidates are excluded by the non-detection of FRB~151230 in the other radio feed horns that operated simultaneously to the detection, as well as the inconsistency between the photometric redshift and that derived from the dispersion measure of FRB~151230. Eight further candidates are consistent with optical variability seen in AGNs. Two more candidates are well fitted with transient templates (Type IIn supernovae), and the final candidate is poorly fitted with all of our transient templates and is located off-center of an extended source. It can only be reproduced with rapid transients with a faint peak and rapid decline and the probability of chance coincidence is $sim3.6%$. We also find that none of our candidates are consistent with Type Ia supernovae, which rules out the association of Type Ia supernovae to FRB~151230 at $zleq0.6$ and limits the dispersion measure of the host galaxy to $lesssim300$~pc~cm$^{-3}$ in a Type Ia supernova scenario.
On February 17 2016, the IceCube real-time neutrino search identified, for the first time, three muon neutrino candidates arriving within 100 s of one another, consistent with coming from the same point in the sky. Such a triplet is expected once every 13.7 years as a random coincidence of background events. However, considering the lifetime of the follow-up program the probability of detecting at least one triplet from atmospheric background is 32%. Follow-up observatories were notified in order to search for an electromagnetic counterpart. Observations were obtained by Swifts X-ray telescope, by ASAS-SN, LCO and MASTER at optical wavelengths, and by VERITAS in the very-high-energy gamma-ray regime. Moreover, the Swift BAT serendipitously observed the location 100 s after the first neutrino was detected, and data from the Fermi LAT and HAWC observatory were analyzed. We present details of the neutrino triplet and the follow-up observations. No likely electromagnetic counterpart was detected, and we discuss the implications of these constraints on candidate neutrino sources such as gamma-ray bursts, core-collapse supernovae and active galactic nucleus flares. This study illustrates the potential of and challenges for future follow-up campaigns.
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration radio transients of unknown origin. Two possible mechanisms that could generate extremely coherent emission from FRBs invoke neutron star magnetospheres or relativistic shocks far from the central energy source. Detailed polarization observations may help us to understand the emission mechanism. However, the available FRB polarization data have been perplexing, because they show a host of polarimetric properties, including either a constant polarization angle during each burst for some repeaters or variable polarization angles in some other apparently one-off events. Here we report observations of 15 bursts from FRB 180301 and find various polarization angle swings in seven of them. The diversity of the polarization angle features of these bursts is consistent with a magnetospheric origin of the radio emission, and disfavours the radiation models invoking relativistic shocks.
Fast Radio Bursts are millisecond-duration astronomical radio pulses of unknown physical origin that appear to come from extragalactic distances. Previous follow-up observations have failed to find additional bursts at the same dispersion measures (i.e. integrated column density of free electrons between source and telescope) and sky position as the original detections. The apparent non-repeating nature of the fast radio bursts has led several authors to hypothesise that they originate in cataclysmic astrophysical events. Here we report the detection of ten additional bursts from the direction of FRB121102, using the 305-m Arecibo telescope. These new bursts have dispersion measures and sky positions consistent with the original burst. This unambiguously identifies FRB121102 as repeating and demonstrates that its source survives the energetic events that cause the bursts. Additionally, the bursts from FRB121102 show a wide range of spectral shapes that appear to be predominantly intrinsic to the source and which vary on timescales of minutes or shorter. While there may be multiple physical origins for the population of fast radio bursts, the repeat bursts with high dispersion measure and variable spectra specifically seen from FRB121102 support models that propose an origin in a young, highly magnetised, extragalactic neutron star.
The Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) is an optical wide-field variability survey carried out using a camera with a 7.8 square degree field of view mounted on the 48-in Oschin Schmidt telescope at Palomar Observatory. One of the key goals of this survey is to conduct high-cadence monitoring of the sky in order to detect optical transient sources shortly after they occur. Here, we describe the real-time capabilities of the PTF and our related rapid multiwavelength follow-up programs, extending from the radio to the gamma-ray bands. We present as a case study observations of the optical transient PTF10vdl (SN 2010id), revealed to be a very young core-collapse (Type II-P) supernova having a remarkably low luminosity. Our results demonstrate that the PTF now provides for optical transients the real-time discovery and rapid-response follow-up capabilities previously reserved only for high-energy transients like gamma-ray bursts.
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