First limits on the very-high energy gamma-ray afterglow emission of a fast radio burst HESS observations of FRB 150418

Date
2017-01-01
Authors
Colafrancesco, S.
Jingo, M.
Shafi, N.
Abdalla, H.
Abramowski, A.
Aharonian, F.
Ait Benkhali, F.
Akhperjanian, A. G.
Andersson, T.
Angüner, E. O.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
EDP Sciences
Abstract
Aims. Following the detection of the fast radio burst FRB150418 by the SUPERB project at the Parkes radio telescope, we aim to search for very-high energy gamma-ray afterglow emission. Methods. Follow-up observations in the very-high energy gamma-ray domain were obtained with the H.E.S.S. imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope system within 14.5 h of the radio burst. Results. The obtained 1.4 h of gamma-ray observations are presented and discussed. At the 99% C.L. we obtained an integral upper limit on the gamma-ray flux of Φγ(E > 350 GeV) < 1.33 × 10-8 m-2 s-1. Differential flux upper limits as function of the photon energy were derived and used to constrain the intrinsic high-energy afterglow emission of FRB 150418. Conclusions. No hints for high-energy afterglow emission of FRB 150418 were found. Taking absorption on the extragalactic background light into account and assuming a distance of z = 0.492 based on radio and optical counterpart studies and consistent with the FRB dispersion, we constrain the gamma-ray luminosity at 1 TeV to L < 5.1 × 1047 erg/s at 99% C.L.
Description
Keywords
Gamma rays: general, Astroparticle physics, Tellurium compounds, Afterglow emission, Differential flux, Extragalactic background light, Gamma-ray observations, Imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, Very high energies, Gamma rays, COSMOLOGICAL DISTANCES, NEUTRON-STARS, ASTRONOMY, CATALOG, GALAXY
Citation
Abdalla, H. et al. 2017. First limits on the very-high energy gamma-ray afterglow emission of a fast radio burst - HESS observations of FRB 150418. ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS 597, Article number A115.