A Deep VLA Search for a Persistent Radio Counterpart to the One-off FRB 20250316A
Abstract Fast radio burst (FRB) 20250316A, detected by CHIME on 2025 March 16 with a fluence of 1.7 ± 0.1 kJy ms and a dispersion measure of 161.3 ± 0.4 pc cm −3 , ranks among the brightest extragalactic FRBs at ∼40 Mpc. We obtain deep Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array follow-up at 15 GHz on 2025 April 5 and 9 and find no persistent radio source (PRS). Our best image reaches an rms of 2.8 μ Jy beam −1 , yielding a 3 σ upper limit of <8.4 μ Jy at the FRB position, corresponding to νL ν < 2.4 × 10 35 erg s −1 . These results represent among the most stringent constraints for a nonrepeating FRB, lying ≳3 orders of magnitude below the νL ν of compact PRSs around well-studied repeaters, thereby disfavoring bright magnetar-nebula scenarios and pointing to low-density, weakly magnetized environments. Interpreting our limit through pulsar-/magnetar-wind synchrotron frameworks places joint constraints on ambient density and engine power. If the empirical PRS–rotation-measure trend reported for repeaters extends to one-off sources, our limit implies ∣RM∣ ≲ 30 rad m −2 , consistent with a clean magnetoionic sight line and progenitor channels such as neutron-star mergers or giant flares from older magnetars.
Authors
- Zhongli Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8366-3373)
- Tao An (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4341-0029)
- Zi-Gao Dai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7835-8585)
- Yuanqi Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9321-6000)
- Ailing Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7351-5801)
- J.C. Feng
- Yuchen Huang
Institutions
- University of Science and Technology of China (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (CN)
- Institute of High Energy Physics (CN)
- National Astronomical Observatories (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Astrophysical Journal Letters
- Published
- 2025-09-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ae0324
- Primary Topic
- Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Associated Universities
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation