MeerKAT discovery of a hyperactive repeating fast radio burst source

ABSTRACT We present the discovery and localization of a repeating fast radio burst (FRB) source from the MeerTRAP project, a commensal fast radio transient search programme using the MeerKAT telescope. FRB 20240619D was first discovered on 2024 June 19 with three bursts being detected within 2 min in the MeerKAT L band (856–1712 MHz). We conducted follow-up observations of FRB 20240619D with MeerKAT using the Ultra-High Frequency (UHF; $544\!-\!1088$ MHz), L-band and S-band (1968–2843 MHz) receivers one week after its discovery, and recorded a total of 249 bursts. The MeerKAT-detected bursts exhibit band-limited emission with an average fractional bandwidth of 0.31, 0.34, and 0.48 in the UHF, L-band, and S-band, respectively. We find our observations are complete down to a fluence limit of $\sim 1$ Jy ms, above which the cumulative burst rate follows a power law $R (>F)\propto (F/1\, \text{Jy}\, \text{ms})^\gamma$ with $\gamma =-1.6\pm 0.1$ and $-1.7\pm 0.1$ in the UHF and L band, respectively. The near-simultaneous L-band, UHF, and S-band observations reveal a frequency dependent burst rate with $3\times$ more bursts being detected in the L band than in the UHF and S band, suggesting a spectral turnover in the burst energy distribution of FRB 20240619D. Our polarimetric analysis demonstrates that most of the bursts have $\sim 100~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ linear polarization fractions and $\sim 10\!-\!20~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ circular polarization fractions. We find no optical counterpart of FRB 20240619D in the MeerLICHT optical observations simultaneous to the radio observations and set a fluence upper limit in MeerLICHT’s q band of 0.76 Jy ms and an optical-to-radio fluence ratio limit of 0.034 for a 15 s exposure.

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Journal
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Published
2025-05-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staf793
Citations
7
Primary Topic
Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
8.08

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MeerKAT discovery of a hyperactive repeating fast radio burst source

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Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
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article

MeerKAT discovery of a hyperactive repeating fast radio burst source

P. Vreeswijk, S. Bloemen, R. P. Breton, P. Groot, Inés Pastor-Marazuela, M C Bezuidenhout, M. Kramer, D. A. H. Buckley, Kaustubh M. Rajwade, B. W. Stappers, F. Jankowski, Manisha Caleb, R. Wijnands, P. A. Woudt, D. L. A. Pieterse, J Tian, E D Barr, R. P. Fender, K Y Hanmer, Kavya Shaji
article en
7 citations

Abstract

ABSTRACT We present the discovery and localization of a repeating fast radio burst (FRB) source from the MeerTRAP project, a commensal fast radio transient search programme using the MeerKAT telescope. FRB 20240619D was first discovered on 2024 June 19 with three bursts being detected within 2 min in the MeerKAT L band (856–1712 MHz). We conducted follow-up observations of FRB 20240619D with MeerKAT using the Ultra-High Frequency (UHF; $544\!-\!1088$ MHz), L-band and S-band (1968–2843 MHz) receivers one week after its discovery, and recorded a total of 249 bursts. The MeerKAT-detected bursts exhibit band-limited emission with an average fractional bandwidth of 0.31, 0.34, and 0.48 in the UHF, L-band, and S-band, respectively. We find our observations are complete down to a fluence limit of $\sim 1$ Jy ms, above which the cumulative burst rate follows a power law $R (>F)\propto (F/1\, \text{Jy}\, \text{ms})^\gamma$ with $\gamma =-1.6\pm 0.1$ and $-1.7\pm 0.1$ in the UHF and L band, respectively. The near-simultaneous L-band, UHF, and S-band observations reveal a frequency dependent burst rate with $3\times$ more bursts being detected in the L band than in the UHF and S band, suggesting a spectral turnover in the burst energy distribution of FRB 20240619D. Our polarimetric analysis demonstrates that most of the bursts have $\sim 100~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ linear polarization fractions and $\sim 10\!-\!20~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ circular polarization fractions. We find no optical counterpart of FRB 20240619D in the MeerLICHT optical observations simultaneous to the radio observations and set a fluence upper limit in MeerLICHT’s q band of 0.76 Jy ms and an optical-to-radio fluence ratio limit of 0.034 for a 15 s exposure.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical SocietyVol. 540(2)
Université d'Orléans (FR), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), The University of Sydney (AU), Pioneer (United States) (US), Radboud University Nijmegen (NL), University of Cape Town (ZA), University of South Africa (ZA), North-West University (ZA), University of Manchester (GB), University of Oxford (GB), South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (ZA), ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (AU), Astronomical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SK), Astronomical Observatory (RS), Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (DE), University of Amsterdam (NL)
Australian Government, European Commission, National Research Foundation, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Observatoire de Paris, Université de Recherche Paris Sciences et Lettres, Science and Technology Facilities Council
Openalex Percentile: Top 3%
Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
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