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The host galaxy of a fast radio burst

Abstract

In recent years, millisecond-duration radio signals originating in distant galaxies appear to have been discovered in the so-called fast radio bursts1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. These signals are dispersed according to a precise physical law and this dispersion is a key observable quantity, which, in tandem with a redshift measurement, can be used for fundamental physical investigations10,11. Every fast radio burst has a dispersion measurement, but none before now have had a redshift measurement, because of the difficulty in pinpointing their celestial coordinates. Here we report the discovery of a fast radio burst and the identification of a fading radio transient lasting ~6 days after the event, which we use to identify the host galaxy; we measure the galaxy’s redshift to be z = 0.492 ± 0.008. The dispersion measure and redshift, in combination, provide a direct measurement of the cosmic density of ionized baryons in the intergalactic medium of ΩIGM = 4.9 ± 1.3 per cent, in agreement with the expectation from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe12, and including all of the so-called ‘missing baryons’. The ~6-day radio transient is largely consistent with the radio afterglow of a short γ-ray burst13, and its existence and timescale do not support progenitor models such as giant pulses from pulsars, and supernovae. This contrasts with the interpretation8 of another recently discovered fast radio burst, suggesting that there are at least two classes of bursts.

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Figure 1: The FRB 150418 radio signal.
Figure 2: The FRB host galaxy radio light curve.
Figure 3: Optical analysis of the FRB host galaxy.

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Acknowledgements

The Parkes radio telescope and the Australia Telescope Compact Array are part of the Australia Telescope National Facility, which is funded by the Commonwealth of Australia for operation as a National Facility managed by CSIRO. Parts of this research were conducted by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO) and used the gSTAR national facility at Swinburne University of Technology. Parts of this work are based on data collected at the Subaru Telescope, which is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory operated by CSIRO, the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT), which is run by the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, the Sardinia Radio Telescope as part of scientific commissioning of the telescope, and the 100-m telescope of the MPIfR at Effelsberg. We acknowledge the Wajarri Yamatji people as the traditional owners of the MWA Observatory site.

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

E.F.K. is the principal investigator of the SUPERB project, created SUPERB survey infrastructure at Parkes and Swinburne, led survey planning, formulated and wrote (with input from co-authors) the contents of this manuscript, performed the ΩIGM calculation, calculated the FRB spectral index, produced the FRB waterfall plot and the light curve plot. S.J. and S.B. performed ATCA observations and data analysis. S.J. and B.W.S. worked on radio light curve interpretation. S.B., N.D.R.B. and P.C. performed GMRT observations and data analysis. E.B. created survey infrastructure at Parkes and Swinburne and created the MWA shadowing infrastructure. Additionally, E.F.K., S.J., S.B., E.B., N.D.R.B., M. Burgay, M.C., C.F., M.K., E.P., A.P., W.v.S., M. Bailes., S.B.-S. and R.P.E. all performed observations for the SUPERB survey at Parkes. A.J. created and maintained the Parkes and Swinburne hardware and software infrastructure and performed data management for the SUPERB project. M. Bailes additionally provided Parkes and Swinburne hardware. C.F. and M.K. also worked on the calculation of the cosmic density of ionized baryons in the intergalactic medium. M.K. additionally performed FRB radio profile fitting. Polarization analysis of the FRB signal was performed by M.C., E.P. and W.v.S. W.v.S. also produced the polarization profile plot. E.P. additionally performed the Swift analysis. Non-imaging radio follow-up was performed by M. Burgay, A.P. and D.P. with the Sardinia Radio Telescope, by R.P.E. and M. Berezina with the Effelsberg Radio Telescope, and by B.W.S., M.M. and C.B. at the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank. T. Totani, M.H., H.F., T.H., T.M., Y.N., H.S., T. Terai, N.T, S.Y. and N.Y. performed the Subaru observations. T. Totani, T.H., N.T. and S.Y. additionally performed Subaru data analysis, determined the spectral redshift and created the optical profile plot. C.F., T. Totani, S.Y. and R.A. performed the optical profile fitting. J.C. performed data analysis on the Keck and Subaru data, also obtained the spectral redshift and produced the optical spectrum plot. J.J. performed the Palomar observations. M.M.K. performed the Keck observation. MWA observations were performed by N.D.R.B., D.L.K., S.J.T., A.W. and R.W. with data analysis by D.L.K. and S.J.T. D.L.K. additionally measured the photometric redshift and produced the RGB (red–green–blue) image and photo-z plots (Extended Data Fig. 1).

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Correspondence to E. F. Keane.

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Extended data figures and tables

Extended Data Figure 1 The photometric redshift of the FRB host galaxy.

A χ2 fit of the redshift of the galaxy based on the spectral energy (Lv) distribution is shown. The photometric redshift determined from this is 0.48 < z < 0.56 (68% confidence, denoted by the shaded regions). Two spectral fits are shown, and these are denoted by the red and blue shading respectively. The spectral redshift is denoted by the dashed vertical line. The inset shows the spectral energy distribution fit, with the seven photometric estimates overplotted with 1σ error bars.

Extended Data Figure 2 The optical surface brightness profile of the FRB host galaxy.

The surface brightness profile of the galaxy in the Subaru i′ band image was fitted to an ellipsoidal Sersic function. Best-fit values for the half-light radius (Re), Sersic index (n), axis ratio (b/a) and position angle (PA) are given in the inset. The model profiles and data are shown as the flux along an ellipse as a function of semi-major axis. The image point spread function (PSF) profile is also shown as a function of radius. Error bars give the root-mean-square scatter of the pixel counts along the axis.

Extended Data Table 1 Summary of follow-up observations of FRB 150418

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Keane, E., Johnston, S., Bhandari, S. et al. The host galaxy of a fast radio burst. Nature 530, 453–456 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17140

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