11 research outputs found
High-cadence Timing of Binary Pulsars with CHIME
We performed near-daily observations of the binary pulsars PSR J0218+4232, PSR J1518+4904, and PSR J2023+2853 with the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME). For the first time, we detected the Shapiro time delay in all three pulsar binary systems, using only 2-4 yr of CHIME/Pulsar timing data. We measured the pulsar masses to be 1.49 − 0.20 + 0.23 M ⊙, 1.470 − 0.034 + 0.030 M ⊙, and 1.50 − 0.38 + 0.49 M ⊙, respectively. The companion mass to PSR J0218+4232 was found to be 0.179 − 0.016 + 0.018 M ⊙. We constrained the mass of the neutron star companion of PSR J1518+4904 to be 1.248 − 0.029 + 0.035 M ⊙, using the observed apsidal motion as a constraint on the mass estimation. The binary companion to PSR J2023+2853 was found to have a mass of 0.93 − 0.14 + 0.17 M ⊙; in the context of the near-circular orbit, this mass estimate suggests that the companion to PSR J2023+2853 is likely a high-mass white dwarf. By comparing the timing model obtained for PSR J0218+4232 with previous observations, we found a significant change in the observed orbital period of the system of P b ̇ = 0.14 ( 2 ) × 10 − 12 ; we determined that this variation arises from “Shklovskii acceleration” due to the relative motion of the binary system, and used this measurement to estimate a distance of d = (6.7 ± 1.0) kpc to PSR J0218+4232. This work demonstrates the capability of high-cadence observations, enabled by the CHIME/Pulsar system, to detect and refine general-relativistic effects of binary pulsars over short observing timescales
The second set of pulsar discoveries by CHIME/FRB/Pulsar: 14 Rotating Radio Transients and 7 pulsars
The Canadian Hydrogen Mapping Experiment (CHIME) is a radio telescope located
in British Columbia, Canada. The large field of view (FOV) of 200 square
degrees has enabled the CHIME/FRB instrument to produce the largest FRB catalog
to date. The large FOV also allows CHIME/FRB to be an exceptional pulsar and
Rotating Radio Transient (RRAT) finding machine, despite saving only the
metadata information of incoming Galactic events. We have developed a pipeline
to search for pulsars/RRATs using DBSCAN, a clustering algorithm. Output
clusters are then inspected by a human for pulsar/RRAT candidates and follow-up
observations are scheduled with the more sensitive CHIME/Pulsar instrument. The
CHIME/Pulsar instrument is capable of a near-daily search mode observation
cadence. We have thus developed the CHIME/Pulsar Single Pulse Pipeline to
automate the processing of CHIME/Pulsar search mode data. We report the
discovery of 21 new Galactic sources, with 14 RRATs, 6 regular slow pulsars and
1 binary system. Owing to CHIME/Pulsar's daily observations we have obtained
timing solutions for 8 of the 14 RRATs along with all the regular pulsars. This
demonstrates CHIME/Pulsar's ability at finding timing solutions for transient
sources
An Injection System for the CHIME/FRB Experiment
Dedicated surveys searching for Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are subject to
selection effects which bias the observed population of events. Software
injection systems are one method of correcting for these biases by injecting a
mock population of synthetic FRBs directly into the realtime search pipeline.
The injected population may then be used to map intrinsic burst properties onto
an expected signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), so long as telescope characteristics
such as the beam model and calibration factors are properly accounted for. This
paper presents an injection system developed for the Canadian Hydrogen
Intensity Mapping Experiment Fast Radio Burst project (CHIME/FRB). The system
was tested to ensure high detection efficiency, and the pulse calibration
method was verified. Using an injection population of ~85,000 synthetic FRBs,
we found that the correlation between fluence and SNR for injected FRBs was
consistent with that of CHIME/FRB detections in the first CHIME/FRB catalog. We
also noted that the sensitivity of the telescope varied strongly as a function
of the broadened burst width, but not as a function of the dispersion measure.
We conclude that some of the machine-learning based Radio Frequency
Interference (RFI) mitigation methods used by CHIME/FRB can be re-trained using
injection data to increase sensitivity to wide events, and that planned
upgrades to the presented injection system will allow for determining a more
accurate CHIME/FRB selection function in the near future.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures. Submitted to A
Comprehensive Bayesian analysis of FRB-like bursts from SGR 1935+2154 observed by CHIME/FRB
The bright millisecond-duration radio burst from the Galactic magnetar SGR
1935+2154 in 2020 April was a landmark event, demonstrating that at least some
fast radio burst (FRB) sources could be magnetars. The two-component burst was
temporally coincident with peaks observed within a contemporaneous short X-ray
burst envelope, marking the first instance where FRB-like bursts were observed
to coincide with X-ray counterparts. In this study, we detail five new radio
burst detections from SGR 1935+2154, observed by the CHIME/FRB instrument
between October 2020 and December 2022. We develop a fast and efficient
Bayesian inference pipeline that incorporates state-of-the-art Markov chain
Monte Carlo techniques and use it to model the intensity data of these bursts
under a flexible burst model. We revisit the 2020 April burst and corroborate
that both the radio sub-components lead the corresponding peaks in their
high-energy counterparts. For a burst observed in 2022 October, we find that
our estimated radio pulse arrival time is contemporaneous with a short X-ray
burst detected by GECAM and HEBS, and Konus-Wind and is consistent with the
arrival time of a radio burst detected by GBT. We present flux and fluence
estimates for all five bursts, employing an improved estimator for bursts
detected in the side-lobes. We also present upper limits on radio emission for
X-ray emission sources which were within CHIME/FRB's field-of-view at trigger
time. Finally, we present our exposure and sensitivity analysis and estimate
the Poisson rate for FRB-like events from SGR 1935+2154 to be
events/day above a fluence of
during the interval from 28 August 2018 to 1 December 2022, although we note
this was measured during a time of great X-ray activity from the source.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables. To be submitted to Ap
Multiwavelength Constraints on the Origin of a Nearby Repeating Fast Radio Burst Source in a Globular Cluster
Since fast radio bursts (FRBs) were discovered, their precise origins have
remained a mystery. Multiwavelength observations of nearby FRB sources provide
one of the best ways to make rapid progress in our understanding of the
enigmatic FRB phenomenon. We present results from a sensitive, broadband
multiwavelength X-ray and radio observational campaign of FRB 20200120E, the
closest known extragalactic repeating FRB source. At a distance of 3.63 Mpc,
FRB 20200120E resides in an exceptional location, within a ~10 Gyr-old globular
cluster in the M81 galactic system. We place deep limits on both the persistent
X-ray luminosity and prompt X-ray emission at the time of radio bursts from FRB
20200120E, which we use to constrain possible progenitors for the source. We
compare our results to various classes of X-ray sources and transients. In
particular, we find that FRB 20200120E is unlikely to be associated with:
ultraluminous X-ray bursts (ULXBs), similar to those observed from objects of
unknown origin in other extragalactic globular clusters; giant flares, like
those observed from Galactic and extragalactic magnetars; or most intermediate
flares and very bright short X-ray bursts, similar to those seen from magnetars
in the Milky Way. We show that FRB 20200120E is also unlikely to be powered by
a persistent or transient ultraluminous X-ray (ULX) source or a young,
extragalactic pulsar embedded in a Crab-like nebula. We also provide new
constraints on the compatibility of FRB 20200120E with accretion-based FRB
models involving X-ray binaries and models that require a synchrotron maser
process from relativistic shocks to generate FRB emission. These results
highlight the power that multiwavelength observations of nearby FRBs can
provide for discriminating between potential FRB progenitor models.Comment: 58 pages, 10 figures, 7 tables, submitte
A fast radio burst localized at detection to a galactic disk using very long baseline interferometry
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
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 , 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.Comment: 40 pages, 13 figures, submitted. Fixed typo in abstrac
CHIME/FRB Discovery of 25 Repeating Fast Radio Burst Sources
We present the discovery of 25 new repeating fast radio burst (FRB) sources
found among CHIME/FRB events detected between 2019 September 30 and 2021 May 1.
The sources were found using a new clustering algorithm that looks for multiple
events co-located on the sky having similar dispersion measures (DMs). The new
repeaters have DMs ranging from 220 pc cm to 1700 pc
cm, and include sources having exhibited as few as two bursts to as many
as twelve. We report a statistically significant difference in both the DM and
extragalactic DM (eDM) distributions between repeating and apparently
nonrepeating sources, with repeaters having lower mean DM and eDM, and we
discuss the implications. We find no clear bimodality between the repetition
rates of repeaters and upper limits on repetition from apparently nonrepeating
sources after correcting for sensitivity and exposure effects, although some
active repeating sources stand out as anomalous. We measure the repeater
fraction and find that it tends to an equilibrium of % over
our exposure thus far. We also report on 14 more sources which are promising
repeating FRB candidates and which merit follow-up observations for
confirmation.Comment: Submitted to ApJ. Comments are welcome and follow-up observations are
encouraged
Sub-second periodicity in a fast radio burst
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration flashes of radio waves that
are visible at distances of billions of light-years. The nature of their
progenitors and their emission mechanism remain open astrophysical questions.
Here we report the detection of the multi-component FRB 20191221A and the
identification of a periodic separation of 216.8(1) ms between its components
with a significance of 6.5 sigmas. The long (~3 s) duration and nine or more
components forming the pulse profile make this source an outlier in the FRB
population. Such short periodicity provides strong evidence for a neutron-star
origin of the event. Moreover, our detection favours emission arising from the
neutron-star magnetosphere, as opposed to emission regions located further away
from the star, as predicted by some models.Comment: Updated to conform to the accepted versio
Inferring the Energy and Distance Distributions of Fast Radio Bursts Using the First CHIME/FRB Catalog
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are brief, energetic, typically extragalactic flashes of radio emission whose progenitors are largely unknown. Although studying the FRB population is essential for understanding how these astrophysical phenomena occur, such studies have been difficult to conduct without large numbers of FRBs and characterizable observational biases. Using the recently released catalog of 536 FRBs published by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment/Fast Radio Burst (CHIME/FRB) collaboration, we present a study of the FRB population that also calibrates for selection effects. Assuming a Schechter function, we infer a characteristic energy cut-off of erg and a differential power-law index of γ = . Simultaneously, we infer a volumetric rate of [ (stat.) Gpc ^−3 yr ^−1 above a pivot energy of 10 ^39 erg and below a scattering timescale of 10 ms at 600 MHz, and find we cannot significantly constrain the cosmic evolution of the FRB population with star-formation rate. Modeling the host’s dispersion measure (DM) contribution as a log-normal distribution and assuming a total Galactic contribution of 80 pc cm ^−3 , we find a median value of pc cm ^−3 , comparable with values typically used in the literature. Proposed models for FRB progenitors should be consistent with the energetics and abundances of the full FRB population predicted by our results. Finally, we infer the redshift distribution of FRBs detected with CHIME, which will be tested with the localizations and redshifts enabled by the upcoming CHIME/FRB Outriggers project
CHIME/FRB Catalog 1 results: statistical cross-correlations with large-scale structure
The CHIME/FRB Project has recently released its first catalog of fast radio
bursts (FRBs), containing 492 unique sources. We present results from angular
cross-correlations of CHIME/FRB sources with galaxy catalogs. We find a
statistically significant (-value , accounting for
look-elsewhere factors) cross-correlation between CHIME FRBs and galaxies in
the redshift range , in three photometric galaxy
surveys: WISESCOS, DESI-BGS, and DESI-LRG. The level of
cross-correlation is consistent with an order-one fraction of the CHIME FRBs
being in the same dark matter halos as survey galaxies in this redshift range.
We find statistical evidence for a population of FRBs with large host
dispersion measure ( pc cm), and show that this can plausibly
arise from gas in large halos (), for FRBs near the
halo center ( kpc). These results will improve in future
CHIME/FRB catalogs, with more FRBs and better angular resolution.Comment: 26 pages, 16 figures, published in Ap