Simultaneous Multiwavelength Observations of the Repeating Fast Radio Burst FRB 20190520B with Swift and FAST

Abstract Among several dozen known repeating fast radio bursts, those precisely localized offer the best opportunities to explore their multiwavelength counterparts, which are key to uncovering their origins. Here we report our X-ray, ultraviolet (UV), and optical observations with the Swift satellite of the repeating FRB 20190520B, in coordination with simultaneous radio observations with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). Our aim was to detect potentially associated multiwavelength bursts and identify any persistent multiwavelength counterparts to the associated persistent radio source (PRS). While a total of 10 radio bursts were detected by FAST during the Swift observations, we detected no X-ray, UV, or optical bursts in accompany with the radio bursts. We obtained the energy upper limits (3 σ ) on any multwavelength bursts as follows: 5.03 × 10 47 erg in the hard X-ray band (15–150 keV), 7.98 × 10 45 erg in the soft X-ray band (0.3–10 keV), and 4.51 × 10 44 erg in the U band (3465 Å), respectively. The energy ratio between soft X-ray (0.3–10 keV) and radio emission of the bursts is constrained as <6 × 10 7 , and the ratio between optical ( U band) and radio as <1.19 × 10 6 . We detect no multiwavelength counterpart to the PRS. The 3 σ luminosity upper limits are 1.04 × 10 47 (15–150 keV), 8.81 × 10 42 (0.3–10 keV), 9.26 × 10 42 (UVW1), and 2.54 × 10 42 erg s −1 ( U ), respectively. We show that the PRS is much more radio-loud than representative pulsar wind nebulae, supernova remnants, extended jets of Galactic X-ray binaries, and ultraluminous X-ray sources, suggestive of boosted radio emission of the PRS.

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Publication Details

Journal
The Astrophysical Journal
Published
2025-04-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adbef0
Citations
4
Primary Topic
Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
4.62
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article

Simultaneous Multiwavelength Observations of the Repeating Fast Radio Burst FRB 20190520B with Swift and FAST

Chenhui Niu, Shami Chatterjee, Zhen Yan, Kim L. Page et al.
4 citations
The Astrophysical Journal
Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae
4.62
article

Simultaneous Multiwavelength Observations of the Repeating Fast Radio Burst FRB 20190520B with Swift and FAST

Chenhui Niu, Shami Chatterjee, Zhen Yan, Kim L. Page, Wenfei Yu, Casey Law, Reshma Anna-Thomas, Jie Lin, Xian Zhang, Bing Zhang, Di Li
article en
4 citations

Abstract

Abstract Among several dozen known repeating fast radio bursts, those precisely localized offer the best opportunities to explore their multiwavelength counterparts, which are key to uncovering their origins. Here we report our X-ray, ultraviolet (UV), and optical observations with the Swift satellite of the repeating FRB 20190520B, in coordination with simultaneous radio observations with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). Our aim was to detect potentially associated multiwavelength bursts and identify any persistent multiwavelength counterparts to the associated persistent radio source (PRS). While a total of 10 radio bursts were detected by FAST during the Swift observations, we detected no X-ray, UV, or optical bursts in accompany with the radio bursts. We obtained the energy upper limits (3 σ ) on any multwavelength bursts as follows: 5.03 × 10 47 erg in the hard X-ray band (15–150 keV), 7.98 × 10 45 erg in the soft X-ray band (0.3–10 keV), and 4.51 × 10 44 erg in the U band (3465 Å), respectively. The energy ratio between soft X-ray (0.3–10 keV) and radio emission of the bursts is constrained as <6 × 10 7 , and the ratio between optical ( U band) and radio as <1.19 × 10 6 . We detect no multiwavelength counterpart to the PRS. The 3 σ luminosity upper limits are 1.04 × 10 47 (15–150 keV), 8.81 × 10 42 (0.3–10 keV), 9.26 × 10 42 (UVW1), and 2.54 × 10 42 erg s −1 ( U ), respectively. We show that the PRS is much more radio-loud than representative pulsar wind nebulae, supernova remnants, extended jets of Galactic X-ray binaries, and ultraluminous X-ray sources, suggestive of boosted radio emission of the PRS.

The Astrophysical JournalVol. 983(2)
West Virginia University (US), California Institute of Technology (US), University of Science and Technology of China (CN), University of Nevada, Las Vegas (US), University of Leicester (GB), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Cornell University (US), Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (CN), Central China Normal University (CN), Zhejiang Lab (CN), National Astronomical Observatories (CN), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Tsinghua University (CN)
Openalex Percentile: Top 6%
Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae
4.62
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