English

A Fast Radio Burst in a Compact Galaxy Group at $z$~1

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2023-11-21 v1

Abstract

FRB 20220610A is a high-redshift Fast Radio Burst (FRB) that has not been observed to repeat. Here, we present rest-frame UV and optical Hubble Space Telescope\textit{Hubble Space Telescope} observations of the field of FRB 20220610A. The imaging reveals seven extended sources, one of which we identify as the most likely host galaxy with a spectroscopic redshift of zz=1.017. We spectroscopically confirm at least three additional sources to be at the same redshift, and identify the system as a compact galaxy group with possible signs of interaction among group members. We determine the host of FRB 20220610A to be a star-forming galaxy with stellar mass of 109.7M\approx10^{9.7}\,M_{\odot}, mass-weighted age of 2.6\approx2.6~Gyr, and star formation rate (integrated over the last 100 Myr) of 1.7\approx1.7~M_{\odot}~yr1^{-1}. These host properties are commensurate with the star-forming field galaxy population at z~1 and trace their properties analogously to the population of low-zz FRB hosts. Based on estimates of the total stellar mass of the galaxy group, we calculate a fiducial contribution to the observed Dispersion Measure (DM) from the intragroup medium of 110220\approx 110-220 pccm3\rm pc \, cm^{-3} (rest-frame). This leaves a significant excess of 500109+272500^{+272}_{-109} pccm3\rm pc \, cm^{-3} (in the observer frame), with additional sources of DM possibly originating from the circumburst environment, host galaxy interstellar medium, and/or foreground structures along the line of sight. Given the low occurrence rates of galaxies in compact groups, the discovery of an FRB in such a group demonstrates a rare and novel environment in which FRBs can occur.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2311.10815,
  title  = {A Fast Radio Burst in a Compact Galaxy Group at $z$~1},
  author = {Alexa C. Gordon and Wen-fai Fong and Sunil Simha and Yuxin Dong and Charles D. Kilpatrick and Adam T. Deller and Stuart D. Ryder and Tarraneh Eftekhari and Marcin Glowacki and Lachlan Marnoch and August R. Muller and Anya E. Nugent and Antonella Palmese and J. Xavier Prochaska and Marc Rafelski and Ryan M. Shannon and Nicolas Tejos},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2311.10815},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

24 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, submitted