GBT26A-208

Magnetoionic properties of persistent radio sources around fast radio bursts

Abstract

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are one of the most active areas of study in astronomy today but their origins remain enigmatic. FRBs arise from a variety of magnetoionic environments based on their Faraday rotation measures (RMs). Three FRB sources (FRBs 20121102A, 20190520B, and 20190417A) with the most extreme |RM|s have been associated with compact persistent radio sources (PRSs). Models of highly magnetized environments such as young magnetar wind nebulae or low-luminosity active galactic nuclei have been invoked to explain the PRS emission. A key test of these models is the polarization properties of the PRS emission itself. However, only weak upper limits exist on the linear polarization of the PRS associated with FRB 20121102A and no observations with polarization calibrators exist for the PRSs associated with FRBs 20190520B or 20190417A. Our observations have the potential to detect, for the first time, polarized emission directly from these PRSs and to compare them to concurrent polarized bursts from its associated FRB source. Not only will our data test existing PRS models, we will also determine whether the PRS and FRB source arise from the same magnetoionic environment or if they are physically distinct.

Investigators

Name	Institution
Ayush Pandhi *	McGill University
Ziggy Pleunis	Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy; Amsterdam, Universiteit van
Tarraneh Eftekhari	Northwestern University
Shami Chatterjee	Cornell University
Bryan Gaensler	California at Santa Cruz, University of; Toronto, University of
Alexandra Moroianu	Amsterdam, Universiteit van
Yuxin Dong	Northwestern University
Mattias Lazda	Toronto, University of

* indicates the PI