A candidate coherent radio flash following a neutron star merger.

In this paper, we present rapid follow-up observations of the short GRB 201006A, consistent with being a compact binary merger, using the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR). We have detected a candidate 5.6 |$\sigma$|⁠ , short, coherent radio flash at 144 MHz at 76.6 min post-GRB with a 3 |$\sigma$| duration of 38 s. This radio flash is 27 arcsec offset from the GRB location, which has a probability of being co-located with the GRB of |$\sim$| 0.05 per cent (3.8 |$\sigma$|⁠) when accounting for measurement uncertainties. Despite the offset, we show that the probability of finding an unrelated transient within 40 arcsec of the GRB location is |$\lt 10^{-6}$| and conclude that this is a candidate radio counterpart to GRB 201006A. We performed image plane dedispersion and the radio flash is tentatively (2.4 |$\sigma$|⁠) shown to be highly dispersed, allowing a distance estimate, corresponding to a redshift of |$0.58\pm 0.06$|⁠. The corresponding luminosity of the event at this distance is |$6.7^{+6.6}_{-4.4} \times 10^{32}$| erg s |$^{-1}$| Hz |$^{-1}$|⁠. If associated with GRB 201006A, this emission would indicate prolonged activity from the central engine that is consistent with being a newborn, supramassive, likely highly magnetized, millisecond spin neutron star (a magnetar). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]