A bright, high rotation-measure FRB that skewers the M33 halo

ABSTRACT We report the detection of a bright fast radio burst, FRB 191108, with Apertif on the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope. The interferometer allows us to localize the FRB to a narrow 5 arcsec × 7 arcmin ellipse by employing both multibeam information within the Apertif phased-array feed beam pattern, and across different tied-array beams. The resulting sightline passes close to Local Group galaxy M33, with an impact parameter of only 18 kpc with respect to the core. It also traverses the much larger circumgalactic medium (CGM) of M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. We find that the shared plasma of the Local Group galaxies could contribute ∼10 per cent of its dispersion measure of 588 pc cm−3. FRB 191108 has a Faraday rotation measure (RM) of +474 $\pm \, 3$ rad m−2, which is too large to be explained by either the Milky Way or the intergalactic medium. Based on the more moderate RMs of other extragalactic sources that traverse the halo of M33, we conclude that the dense magnetized plasma resides in the host galaxy. The FRB exhibits frequency structure on two scales, one that is consistent with quenched Galactic scintillation and broader spectral structure with Δν ≈ 40 MHz. If the latter is due to scattering in the shared M33/M31 CGM, our results constrain the Local Group plasma environment. We found no accompanying persistent radio sources in the Apertif imaging survey data.

B-supergiants in IC1613: testing low-Z massive star physics and evolution

The physical processes taking place in massive stars during their life and death are highly dependent on the metallicity (Z) of their parent cloud. Observations of these stars in low-Z nearby galaxies are crucial to understand these processes. IC1613 is the nearest Local Group galaxy with ongoing star formation and O-abundance lower than the SMC, although UV spectroscopy suggests it is not so metal poor. We performed a spectral analysis of early B-type stars in the galaxy, obtaining physical parameters and abundances. Our results confirm the low O-abundance of IC1613.

The Structure of Halo Gas around M33

Understanding the distribution of gas in and around galaxies is vital for our interpretation of galaxy formation and evolution. As part of the Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey (AGES) we have observed the neutral hydrogen (HI) gas in and around the nearby Local Group galaxy M33 to a greater depth than previous observations. As part of this project we investigated the absence of optically detected dwarf galaxies in its neighbourhood, which is contrary to predictions of galaxy formation models. We observed 22 discrete clouds, 11 of which were previously undetected and none of which have optically detected counterparts. We find one particularly interesting hydrogen cloud, which has many similar characteristics to hydrogen distributed in the disk of a galaxy. This cloud, if it is at the distance of M33, has a HI mass of around 107 M⊙ and a diameter of 18 kpc, making it larger in size than M33 itself.

Results of the IRAM M33 Large Program

A very sensitive survey of the CO(2−1) emission of the entire disk of the Local Group galaxy M 33 is virtually complete. Hundreds of clouds down to a mass of 10000M⊙ are detected and we show that the cloud mass function (assuming a constant ratio between CO emission and H2 mass) steepens away from the center of M 33. Through comparison with dust emission and cloud Virial masses, we estimate a N(H2)/ICO factor roughly twice Galactic.