The low density and magnetization of a massive galaxy halo exposed by a fast radio burst

J Xavier Prochaska; Jean-Pierre Macquart; Matthew McQuinn; Sunil Simha; Ryan M Shannon; Cherie K Day; Lachlan Marnoch; Stuart Ryder; Adam Deller; Keith W Bannister; Shivani Bhandari; Rongmon Bordoloi; John Bunton; Hyerin Cho; Chris Flynn; Elizabeth K Mahony; Chris Phillips; Hao Qiu; Nicolas Tejos

doi:10.1126/science.aay0073

The low density and magnetization of a massive galaxy halo exposed by a fast radio burst

Science. 2019 Oct 11;366(6462):231-234. doi: 10.1126/science.aay0073. Epub 2019 Sep 26.

Authors

J Xavier Prochaska^{1

2}, Jean-Pierre Macquart³, Matthew McQuinn⁴, Sunil Simha⁵, Ryan M Shannon⁶, Cherie K Day^{6

7}, Lachlan Marnoch^{7

8}, Stuart Ryder⁸, Adam Deller⁶, Keith W Bannister⁷, Shivani Bhandari⁷, Rongmon Bordoloi⁹, John Bunton⁷, Hyerin Cho¹⁰, Chris Flynn⁶, Elizabeth K Mahony⁷, Chris Phillips⁷, Hao Qiu¹¹, Nicolas Tejos¹²

Affiliations

¹ University of California Observatories-Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. xavier@ucolick.org.
² Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, 277-8583, Japan.
³ International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia.
⁴ Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
⁵ University of California Observatories-Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
⁶ Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia.
⁷ Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia Telescope National Facility, P.O. Box 76, Epping, NSW 1710, Australia.
⁸ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia.
⁹ Department of Physics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
¹⁰ School of Physics and Chemistry, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju 61005, Korea.
¹¹ Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
¹² Instituto de Física, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Casilla 4059, Valparaíso, Chile.

PMID: 31558577
DOI: 10.1126/science.aay0073

Abstract

Present-day galaxies are surrounded by cool and enriched halo gas extending for hundreds of kiloparsecs. This halo gas is thought to be the dominant reservoir of material available to fuel future star formation, but direct constraints on its mass and physical properties have been difficult to obtain. We report the detection of a fast radio burst (FRB 181112), localized with arcsecond precision, that passes through the halo of a foreground galaxy. Analysis of the burst shows that the halo gas has low net magnetization and turbulence. Our results imply predominantly diffuse gas in massive galactic halos, even those hosting active supermassive black holes, contrary to some previous results.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.