A targeted search for fast radio bursts from magnetars in elliptical galaxies

Abstract

Motivated by predictions that globular clusters associated with nearby giant elliptical galaxies are prime environments for detecting fast radio bursts (FRBs) from magnetars, we report on a targeted high-sensitivity search across five local massive elliptical galaxies. We utilized the GREENBURST single-pulse search pipeline and the VEGAS backend on the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) to conduct an L-band (1.4 GHz) survey for FRBs in each target environment. We discovered FRB 20240817A in the direction of M49 (NGC 4472) which has a pulse width of 15 ms, a signal-to-noise ratio of 13, and a dispersion measure (DM) of 983 cm⁻³ pc. Although a Bayesian spatial association framework initially flags M49 as the host, carefully accounting for the foreground electron column contributions from the Milky Way and both the Virgo intracluster medium and M49's hot gaseous halo (∼300−400 cm⁻³ pc combined) strongly disfavours a physical connection. We conclude that FRB 20240817A is a background event. We also identified a repeating cluster of three low-significance pulses from the direction of M49 at a physically plausible DM of 150−160 cm⁻³ pc. Accounting for the fraction of each target's extended globular cluster distribution observed, the absence of unambiguous, host-localized bursts allows us to place a joint upper limit on the intrinsic burst rate of a single active source within these systems of R₀ < 0.028 hr⁻¹ (and an integrated rate limit of <1.0~hr⁻¹ for M49), lowering previous upper limits and suggesting that magnetar formation within dynamical clusters is less efficient than previously assumed.

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{paine2026targeted,
  title = {{A targeted search for fast radio bursts from magnetars in elliptical galaxies}},
  author = {S. Paine and D. R. Lorimer and S. Sirota and G. M. Doskoch and S. Tabassum and M. Flanagan and J. Lituchy and A. Stone and J. W. Kania and M. Bhardwaj and S. Mehta and M. A. McLaughlin and B. Kharel and D. Agarwal and M. P. Surnis},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.04118},
  eprint = {2609.04118},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.04118},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - A targeted search for fast radio bursts from magnetars in elliptical galaxies
AU  - S. Paine
AU  - D. R. Lorimer
AU  - S. Sirota
AU  - G. M. Doskoch
AU  - S. Tabassum
AU  - M. Flanagan
AU  - J. Lituchy
AU  - A. Stone
AU  - J. W. Kania
AU  - M. Bhardwaj
AU  - S. Mehta
AU  - M. A. McLaughlin
AU  - B. Kharel
AU  - D. Agarwal
AU  - M. P. Surnis
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/22
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.04118
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.04118
AB  - Motivated by predictions that globular clusters associated with nearby giant elliptical galaxies are prime environments for detecting fast radio bursts (FRBs) from magnetars, we report on a targeted high-sensitivity search across five local massive elliptical galaxies. We utilized the GREENBURST single-pulse search pipeline and the VEGAS backend on the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) to conduct an L-band (1.4 GHz) survey for FRBs in each target environment. We discovered FRB 20240817A in the direction of M49 (NGC 4472) which has a pulse width of 15 ms, a signal-to-noise ratio of 13, and a dispersion measure (DM) of 983 cm^−3 pc. Although a Bayesian spatial association framework initially flags M49 as the host, carefully accounting for the foreground electron column contributions from the Milky Way and both the Virgo intracluster medium and M49's hot gaseous halo (∼300−400 cm^−3 pc combined) strongly disfavours a physical connection. We conclude that FRB 20240817A is a background event. We also identified a repeating cluster of three low-significance pulses from the direction of M49 at a physically plausible DM of 150−160 cm^−3 pc. Accounting for the fraction of each target's extended globular cluster distribution observed, the absence of unambiguous, host-localized bursts allows us to place a joint upper limit on the intrinsic burst rate of a single active source within these systems of R_0 < 0.028 hr^−1 (and an integrated rate limit of <1.0~hr^−1 for M49), lowering previous upper limits and suggesting that magnetar formation within dynamical clusters is less efficient than previously assumed.
ER  -

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