Non-detection of fast radio bursts from six gamma-ray burst remnants with possible magnetar engines

TL;DR

This study searched for fast radio bursts from six gamma-ray burst remnants with potential magnetar engines but found none, providing constraints on FRB rates and luminosities in such remnants.

Contribution

First dedicated observational test of FRB emission from GRB remnants with magnetar engines, constraining their burst rate and luminosity.

Findings

No FRBs detected from six GRB remnants.

Estimated non-detection probability is extremely low (8.9×10⁻⁶).

Results place limits on FRB burst rate and luminosity in magnetar remnants.

Abstract

The analogy of the host galaxy of the repeating fast radio burst (FRB) source FRB 121102 and those of long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and super-luminous supernovae (SLSNe) has led to the suggestion that young magnetars born in GRBs and SLSNe could be the central engine of repeating FRBs. We test such a hypothesis by performing dedicated observations of the remnants of six GRBs with evidence of having a magnetar central engine using the Arecibo telescope and the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT). A total of $\sim 20$ hrs of observations of these sources did not detect any FRB from these remnants. Under the assumptions that all these GRBs left behind a long-lived magnetar and that the bursting rate of FRB 121102 is typical for a magnetar FRB engine, we estimate a non-detection probability of $8.9\times10^{-6}$. Even though these non-detections cannot exclude the young magnetar model of FRBs, we place constraints on the burst rate and luminosity function of FRBs from these GRB targets.