A sudden dramatic change and recovery of magneto-environment of a repeating fast radio burst
arXiv:2503.04727 · doi:10.1126/science.adq3225
Abstract
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration radio bursts with unidentified extra-galactic origin. Some FRBs exhibit mild magneto-ionic environmental variations, possibly attributed to plasma turbulence or binary configuration. We report an abrupt magneto-ionic variation of FRB 20220529, a repeating FRB from a disk galaxy at redshift . Initially, the Faraday rotation measure (RM) had a median of and a scatter of over 17 months. In December 2023, it jumped to , and returned to typical values within two weeks. This drastic RM variation suggests that a dense magnetized clump enters and exits the line of sight in week timescales. One plausible scenario invokes a coronal mass ejection from a companion star, while other scenarios invoking extreme turbulence or binary orbital motion are also possible.
arXiv comment95 pages, 14 figures. Published in Science, 15 January 2026. Authors' version
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