Kavli Affiliate: Kiyoshi W. Masui
| First 5 Authors: Tomas Cassanelli, Calvin Leung, Pranav Sanghavi, Juan Mena-Parra, Savannah Cary
| Summary:
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration, luminous radio transients
of extragalactic origin. These events have been used to trace the baryonic
structure of the Universe using their dispersion measure (DM) assuming that the
contribution from host galaxies can be reliably estimated. However,
contributions from the immediate environment of an FRB may dominate the
observed DM, thus making redshift estimates challenging without a robust host
galaxy association. Furthermore, while at least one Galactic burst has been
associated with a magnetar, other localized FRBs argue against magnetars as the
sole progenitor model. Precise localization within the host galaxy %can enable
estimation of the host galaxy DM contribution and can discriminate between
progenitor models, a major goal of the field. Until now, localizations on this
spatial scale have only been carried out in follow-up observations of repeating
sources. Here we demonstrate the localization of FRB 20210603A with very long
baseline interferometry (VLBI) on two baselines, using data collected only at
the time of detection. We localize the burst to SDSS J004105.82+211331.9, an
edge-on galaxy at $zapprox 0.177$, and detect recent star formation in the
kiloparsec-scale vicinity of the burst. The edge-on inclination of the host
galaxy allows for a unique comparison between the line of sight towards the FRB
and lines of sight towards known Galactic pulsars. The DM, Faraday rotation
measure (RM), and scattering suggest a progenitor coincident with the host
galactic plane, strengthening the link between the environment of FRB 20210603A
and the disk of its host galaxy. Single-pulse VLBI localizations of FRBs to
within their host galaxies, following the one presented here, will further
constrain the origins and host environments of one-off FRBs.
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