GBT17B-396

Studying FRB 121102 at 5 GHz and improving its localization to pc scales

Abstract

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are enigmatic transient sources that exhibit bright (~Jy) and short (~ms) bursts.
The precise localization of the only known repeating FRB, FRB 121102, allowed us to associate the bursts to a compact (<0.7 pc) radio source located inside of a low-metallicity star-forming region in a dwarf galaxy at z = 0.193. However, the origin of the bursts and the associated source remain unknown.
The existence of multiple bursts in FRB 121102 allow us to study in detail their properties. Observations during the last weeks support the existence of a current enhanced period of activity in the source, that last year lasted for about a month. New observations at C-band would allow us to study the properties of several bursts within a session. We request two observations with the GBT during this active period and to be simultaneous with incoming EVN observations. The first epoch on Monday 11 Sep 2017 06:00-12:00UT would allow us to detect bursts with the Breakthrough Listen backend confirming the activity. The second epoch on 25 Oct 2017 03:00-09:00UT with the same backend and the VLBI one in parallel to improve the localization of the bursts to a few parsec.

Investigators

Name	Institution
Andrew Siemion	California at Berkeley, University of; Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy; Nijmegen, Radboud Universiteit
Vishal Gajjar	California at Berkeley, University of
Dave MacMahon	California at Berkeley, University of
Aard Keimpema	Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry European Research Infrastructure Consortium
Zsolt Paragi	Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry European Research Infrastructure Consortium
Benito Marcote *	Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry European Research Infrastructure Consortium
Shriharsh Tendulkar	Tata Institute of Fundamental Research; Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Sarah Spolaor	West Virginia University
Andrew Seymour	Green Bank Observatory; National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center ; West Virginia University
Maura McLaughlin	West Virginia University
Jack Hickish	California at Berkeley, University of
Ryan Lynch	Green Bank Observatory; West Virginia University
Jason Hessels	Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy; Amsterdam, Universiteit van

* indicates the PI