Journal Article

A repeating fast radio burst source in a globular cluster

Wang, N., Lin, H. H., Yang, J., Snelders, M. P., Bassa, C., Bower, G. C., Kirsten, F., Mckinven, R., Blaauw, R., Leung, C., Surcis, G., Kaspi, V. M., Keimpema, A., Orbidans, A., Nimmo, K., Vlemmings, W., Buttaccio, S. T., Cassanelli, T., Rahman, M., Bezrukovs, V., Yuan, J., Clarke, T. E., Marcote, B., Pearlman, A. B., Anna-Thomas, R., Gaensler, B. M., Gopinath, A., Burke-Spolaor, S., Law, C. J., Feiler, R., Scholz, P., Ould-Boukattine, O. S., Tendulkar, S. P., Smith, K. M., Maccaferri, G., Ng, C., Forssén, O., Shin, K., Kassim, N., Ransom, S. M., Michilli, D., Conway, J. E., Karuppusamy, R., Masui, K. W., Lazio, T. J. W., Lindqvist, M., Hewitt, D. M., Giroletti, M., Melnikov, A., Bhardwaj, M., Possenti, A., Mikhailov, A. G., Hessels, J. W. T., Paragi, Z., Stairs, I. H., Kharinov, M. A., Corongiu, A., Fonseca, E., Burgay, M., Li, D. Z., Petroff, E., Bach, U., Aggarwal, K., Gawroński, M. P., Pen, U. L., Peters, W. M.

2022

Overview

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are flashes of unknown physical origin 1 . The majority of FRBs have been seen only once, although some are known to generate multiple flashes 2 , 3 . Many models invoke magnetically powered neutron stars (magnetars) as the source of the emission 4 , 5 . Recently, the discovery 6 of another repeater (FRB 20200120E) was announced, in the direction of the nearby galaxy M81, with four potential counterparts at other wavelengths 6 . Here we report observations that localized the FRB to a globular cluster associated with M81, where it is 2 parsecs away from the optical centre of the cluster. Globular clusters host old stellar populations, challenging FRB models that invoke young magnetars formed in a core-collapse supernova. We propose instead that FRB 20200120E originates from a highly magnetized neutron star formed either through the accretion-induced collapse of a white dwarf, or the merger of compact stars in a binary system 7 . Compact binaries are efficiently formed inside globular clusters, so a model invoking them could also be responsible for the observed bursts. The fast radio burst FRB 20200120E is shown to originate from a globular cluster in the galaxy M81, and may be a collapsed white dwarf or a merged compact binary star system.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: 639/33/34/4118 / 639/33/34/4121 / 639/33/34/4127 / Astronomical models / Binary stars / Deposition / Galaxies / Globular clusters / Humanities and Social Sciences / Localization / Magnetars / multidisciplinary / Neutron stars / Radio bursts / Science / Science (multidisciplinary) / Star clusters / Stars / Stellar models / Stellar populations / Supernova / Telescopes / White dwarf stars