A sudden change and recovery in the magnetic environment around a repeating fast radio burst.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 41538449.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/science.adq3225.
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Abstract
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration radio transients from extragalactic sources. Some repeating FRBs exhibit variations in their Faraday rotation measure (RM) due to changes in their magneto-ionic environment. We report magneto-ionic variations of FRB 20220529, a repeating FRB from a disk galaxy at redshift 0.18. For the first 17 months of observations, the RM had a median of 17 radians per square meter (rad m<sup>-2</sup>) and a scatter of 101 rad m<sup>-2</sup>. In December 2023, the RM jumped to 1977 ± 84 rad m<sup>-2</sup>, then gradually returned to typical values within 2 weeks. This sudden RM variation indicates that a dense magnetized clump of plasma passed across the line of sight. We discuss potential explanations, including a coronal mass ejection from a companion star, high plasma turbulence, or binary orbital motion.