Magnetic field reversal in the turbulent environment around a repeating fast radio burst

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Anna-Thomas, Reshma; Connor, Liam; Dai, Shi; Feng, Yi; Burke-Spolaor, Sarah; Beniamini, Paz; Yang, Yuan -Pei; Zhang, Yong-Kun; Aggarwal, Kshitij; Law, Casey J.; Li, Di; Niu, Chenhui; Chatterjee, Shami; Cruces, Marilyn; Duan, Ran; Filipovic, Miroslav D.; Hobbs, George; Lynch, Ryan S.; Miao, Chenchen; Niu, Jiarui; Ocker, Stella K.; Tsai, Chao-Wei; Wang, Pei; Xue, Mengyao; Yao, Ju-Mei; Yu, Wenfei; Zhang, Bing; Zhang, Lei; Zhu, Shiqiang; Zhu, Weiwei
• 署名单位: West Virginia University; West Virginia University; California Institute of Technology; California Institute of Technology; Western Sydney University; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO); Australia Telescope National Facility; Zhejiang Laboratory; Open University Israel; Open University Israel; Yunnan University; Chinese Academy of Sciences; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, CAS; University of Kwazulu Natal; Cornell University; Cornell University; Max Planck Society; National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO); Green Bank Observatory; Beijing Normal University; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Xinjiang Astronomy Observatory, CAS; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, CAS; Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE); University of Nevada Las Vegas
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-11304
• DOI: 10.1126/science.abo6526
• 发表日期: 2023-05-11
• 页码: 599-603
• 关键词: frb 121102; psr b1259-63; polarization

摘要

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are brief, intense flashes of radio waves from unidentified extragalactic sources. Polarized FRBs originate in highly magnetized environments. We report observations of the repeating FRB 20190520B spanning 17 months, which show that the FRB's Faraday rotation is highly variable and twice changes sign. The FRB also depolarizes below radio frequencies of about 1 to 3 gigahertz. We interpret these properties as being due to changes in the parallel component of the magnetic field integrated along the line of sight, including reversing direction of the field. This could result from propagation through a turbulent magnetized screen of plasma, located 10-5 to 100 parsecs from the FRB source. This is consistent with the bursts passing through the stellar wind of a binary companion of the FRB source.