Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Precise localizations of fast radio bursts (FRBs) to specific environments within their host galaxies with very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) have provided valuable insights into the nature of their progenitors. To date, such localizations have relied primarily on traditional VLBI facilities, whose observational capabilities limit them to targeted follow-up on a small subset of repeating FRBs that are observable at frequencies above $\sim$1 GHz. CHIME/FRB Outriggers is a low-frequency (400--800 MHz), wide-field VLBI network designed to overcome these limitations, aiming to localize a substantial fraction of CHIME-detected FRBs to $\sim$50 mas precision. In this work, we detail the analysis procedure used to localize FRBs with the CHIME/FRB Outriggers VLBI array. With over a thousand test localizations consisting of continuum calibrators and pulsars with known VLBI positions, we provide a comprehensive demonstration of the VLBI array's ability to robustly meet, and under some conditions exceed, the nominal astrometric specification required for the central science goals of CHIME/FRB Outriggers. By demonstrating that a wide-field survey instrument can deliver routine $\sim$50 mas astrometry on one-off FRBs, this work lays the foundation for the upcoming generation of wide-field VLBI FRB surveys and the population-scale FRB samples they will enable.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Andrew, Shion, Lazda, Mattias, Leung, Calvin, Masui, Kiyoshi W., Hewitt, Danté M., Willis, Jacob, Atkinson, Alyssa, Bandura, Kevin, Chatterjee, Shami, Gusinskaia, Nina V., Lanman, Adam E., Mena-Parra, Juan, Nimmo, Kenzie, Pearlman, Aaron B., Pleunis, Ziggy, Pollak, Alexander W., Sachdeva, Gurman, Shah, Vishwangi
Institutions: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Toronto, University of California, Berkeley, University of Amsterdam, West Virginia University, Cornell University, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, Northwestern University, Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian, Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, Trottier Space Institute at McGill, McGill University
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Adolph C. and Mary Sprague Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science, University of California Berkeley, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, McGill University, Space Telescope Science Institute, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, University of Toronto, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, McGill Space Institute, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, National Research Council Canada, Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies
OpenAlex ID: W7215111303