4.7 Article

Multifrequency observations of SGR J1935+2154

Journal

MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
Volume 503, Issue 4, Pages 5367-5384

Publisher

OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stab749

Keywords

stars: magnetars; fast radio bursts

Funding

  1. European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme [694745]
  2. Gravitational Wave Data Centre - Department of Education via Astronomy Australia Ltd
  3. Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav) [CE170100004]
  4. INAF national call Prin-SKA/CT [70/2016]
  5. Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale Direzione Generale per la Promozione del Sistema Paese -Progetto di Grande Rilevanza [ZA18GR02]
  6. South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO)
  7. European Research Council
  8. Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA)
  9. International LOFAR Telescope (ILT) [DDT13 006]
  10. CNRS-INSU, France
  11. Observatoire de Paris, France
  12. Universite d'Orleans, France
  13. BMBF, Germany
  14. MIWF-NRW, Germany
  15. MPG, Germany
  16. Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation (DBEI), Ireland
  17. NWO, The Netherlands
  18. Science and Technology Facilities Council, UK
  19. National Science Foundation [NSF: AST-1744119]
  20. European Research Council Synergy Grant BlackHoleCam [610058]
  21. European Research Council (ERC) [610058] Funding Source: European Research Council (ERC)

Ask authors/readers for more resources

Observations using multiple radio and optical telescopes did not detect significant radio pulses or optical emissions at the location of the magnetar SGR J1935+2154. The distance to the magnetar was constrained to be between 1.5 and 6.5 kiloparsecs based on image analysis and correlations, suggesting the burst on April 28 was less energetic compared to some FRBs. The lack of single-pulse radio detections may indicate rarity or clustering of such events, and suggests the magnetar's ability to produce radio emission efficiently lies between being radio-quiet and radio-loud.
Magnetars are a promising candidate for the origin of fast radio bursts (FRBs). The detection of an extremely luminous radio burst from the Galactic magnetar SGR J1935+2154 on 2020 April 28 added credence to this hypothesis. We report on simultaneous and non-simultaneous observing campaigns using the Arecibo, Effelsberg, LOFAR, MeerKAT, MK2, and Northern Cross radio telescopes and the MeerLICHT optical telescope in the days and months after the April 28 event. We did not detect any significant single radio pulses down to fluence limits between 25 mJy ms and 18 Jy ms. Some observing epochs overlapped with times when X-ray bursts were detected. Radio images made on 4 d using the MeerKAT telescope revealed no point-like persistent or transient emission at the location of the magnetar. No transient or persistent optical emission was detected over seven days. Using the multicolour MeerLICHT images combined with relations between DM, N-H, and reddening, we constrain the distance to SGR J1935+2154, to be between 1.5 and 6.5 kpc. The upper limit is consistent with some other distance indicators and suggests that the April 28 burst is closer to two orders of magnitude less energetic than the least energetic FRBs. The lack of single-pulse radio detections shows that the single pulses detected over a range of fluences are either rare, or highly clustered, or both. It may also indicate that the magnetar lies somewhere between being radio-quiet and radio-loud in terms of its ability to produce radio emission efficiently.

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