A repeating FRB in a dense environment with a compact persistent radio source

C. -H. Niu, K. Aggarwal, D. Li, X. Zhang, S. Chatterjee, C. -W. Tsai, W. Yu, C. J. Law, S. Burke-Spolaor, J. M. Cordes, Y. -K. Zhang, S. Ocker, J. -M. Yao, P. Wang, Y. Feng, Y. Niino, C. Bochenek, M. Cruces, L. Connor, J. -A. Jiang, S. Dai, R. Luo, G. -D. Li, C. -C. Miao, J. -R. Niu, R. Anna-Thomas, J. Sydnor, D. Stern, W. -Y. Wang, M. Yuan, Y. -L. Yue, D. -J. Zhou, Z. Yan, W. -W. Zhu, B. Zhang

Published 2021-10-14Version 1

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are the most energetic radio transients in the Universe, the central engines of which remain unknown and could be diverse. The dispersion sweeps of FRBs provide a unique probe of the ionized baryon content of the intergalactic medium as well as FRBs natal environments. Here we report the discovery and localization of a new active repeater, FRB 190520B, which is co-located with a compact, persistent radio source (PRS) and identified with a dwarf host galaxy of high specific star formation rate at a redshift $z=0.241$. The estimated host galaxy dispersion measure (DM) $\rm DM_{\rm host} \approx 902^{+88}_{-128}$~pc~cm$^{-3}$ is nearly an order of magnitude higher than the average of FRB host galaxies and much larger than those of the intergalactic medium, suggesting caution in inferring redshifts for FRBs without accurate host galaxy identifications. This represents the second source after FRB 121102 with a confirmed association between a FRB and a compact PRS. The dense, complex host galaxy environment and the associated persistent radio source may point to a distinctive origin or an earlier evolutionary stage for active repeating FRBs.