Published April 20, 2025 | Version Published
Journal Article Open

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

  • 1. ROR icon Shanghai Astronomical Observatory
  • 2. ROR icon University of Leicester
  • 3. ROR icon University of Science and Technology of China
  • 4. ROR icon Tsinghua University
  • 5. ROR icon National Astronomical Observatories
  • 6. ROR icon Zhejiang Lab
  • 7. ROR icon Central China Normal University
  • 8. ROR icon California Institute of Technology
  • 9. ROR icon University of Nevada, Las Vegas
  • 10. ROR icon Cornell University
  • 11. ROR icon University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • 12. ROR icon West Virginia University

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 (3σ) on any multwavelength bursts as follows: 5.03 × 1047 erg in the hard X-ray band (15–150 keV), 7.98 × 1045 erg in the soft X-ray band (0.3–10 keV), and 4.51 × 1044 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 × 107, and the ratio between optical (U band) and radio as <1.19 × 106. We detect no multiwavelength counterpart to the PRS. The 3σ luminosity upper limits are 1.04 × 1047 (15–150 keV), 8.81 × 1042 (0.3–10 keV), 9.26 × 1042 (UVW1), and 2.54 × 1042 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.

Copyright and License

© 2025. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.

Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the anonymous referee for stimulating and helpful comments and suggestions. W.Y. would like to thank the Swift PI, Brad Cenko (and his designate) for approving and scheduling our Swift observations. We appreciate the Swift team for helping with quick data access. We would like to thank the FAST TAC for approving our DDT observations and the FRB Key Science Project for the arrangement of half of the FAST observations that are reported in this paper. W.Y., Z.Y., and D.L. would like to acknowledge support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant Nos. 11333005, U1838203, U1938114, 11988101, 12361131579, 12373049, and 12373050). Z.Y. was also supported in part by the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. D.L. is a New Cornerstone Investigator. K.L.P. acknowledges funding from the UK Space Agency.

Facilities

Swift - Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission, FAST - Fast Auroral SnapshoT explorer satellite.

Software References

astropy (Astropy Collaboration et al. 2018), matplotlib, proplot (L. L. B. Davis 2021), HEASoft.

Files

Yan_2025_ApJ_983_116.pdf

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Additional details

Related works

Is new version of
Discussion Paper: arXiv:2402.12084 (arXiv)

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China
11333005
National Natural Science Foundation of China
U1838203
National Natural Science Foundation of China
U1938114
National Natural Science Foundation of China
11988101
National Natural Science Foundation of China
12361131579
National Natural Science Foundation of China
12373049
National Natural Science Foundation of China
12373050
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Youth Innovation Promotion Association -
United Kingdom Space Agency

Dates

Accepted
2025-03-03
Available
2025-04-14
Published

Caltech Custom Metadata

Caltech groups
Owens Valley Radio Observatory, Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy (PMA)
Publication Status
Published