Tracing the Host-Galaxy Environments of FRBs with a New Sample of Localized Sources Detected with the DSA-110

Abstract

We characterize the source environments of a sample of fast radio bursts (FRBs) detected with the Deep Synoptic Array (DSA-110). We present new analyses of a sample of 24 FRBs which have been localized to host galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts. Four of these bursts have been confidently associated with galaxies near or beyond redshift 1, and several are published here for the first time. Combining these new bursts with previously analyzed DSA-110 sources, we use a sample of 43 DSA-110 FRBs with known redshifts to measure host-galaxy contributions to dispersion measure (DM) and Faraday rotation measure (RM). We find characteristically large and significantly correlated host-galaxy contributions to DM and RM, suggesting that most FRBs reside in overdense, magnetized regions within their host ISM. Additionally, we identify a subset of FRBs with detectable scattering, and show that their scattering timescales and inferred host DM values are broadly consistent with an empirical relation established for Galactic pulsars. Combined with two-screen modeling of some bursts, our results indicate that density fluctuations within the host-galaxy ISM are the dominant source of extragalactic scattering. Comparisons of FRB host-galaxy properties with pulsars and simulations of young and old progenitor populations support a scenario in which FRBs preferentially form and remain associated with HII regions throughout their emission lifetime, favoring magnetars formed in core-collapse supernovae as the sources of FRBs.

26 pages, 18 figures, 3 tables. Submitted to ApJ