Diverse Polarization Angle Swings From a Repeating Fast Radio Burst Source

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-28-2020

Publication Title

Nature

Volume

586

Issue

7831

First page number:

693

Last page number:

696

Abstract

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration radio transients1,2 of unknown origin. Two possible mechanisms that could generate extremely coherent emission from FRBs invoke neutron star magnetospheres3–5 or relativistic shocks far from the central energy source6–8. Detailed polarization observations may help us to understand the emission mechanism. However, the available FRB polarization data have been perplexing, because they show a host of polarimetric properties, including either a constant polarization angle during each burst for some repeaters9,10 or variable polarization angles in some other apparently one-off events11,12. Here we report observations of 15 bursts from FRB 180301 and find various polarization angle swings in seven of them. The diversity of the polarization angle features of these bursts is consistent with a magnetospheric origin of the radio emission, and disfavours the radiation models invoking relativistic shocks.

Keywords

Fast radio bursts (FRBs); Detection method; Observational method; Polarization observation; Emission mechanism

Disciplines

Astrophysics and Astronomy | Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Language

English

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