Sudden Polarization Angle Jumps of the Repeating Fast Radio Burst FRB 20201124A
Abstract We report the first detection of polarization angle orthogonal jumps, a phenomenon previously only observed from radio pulsars, from a fast radio burst (FRB) source FRB 20201124A. We find three cases of orthogonal jumps in over 2000 bursts, all resembling those observed in pulsar single pulses. We propose that the jumps are due to the superposition of two orthogonal emission modes that could only be produced in a highly magnetized plasma, and they are caused by the line of sight sweeping across a rotating magnetosphere. The shortest jump timescale is of the order of 1 millisecond, which hints that the emission modes come from regions smaller than the light cylinder of most pulsars or magnetars. This discovery provides convincing evidence that FRB emission originates from the complex magnetosphere of a magnetar, suggesting an FRB emission mechanism that is analogous to radio pulsars despite a huge luminosity difference between two types of objects.
Authors
- Chenhui Niu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6651-7799)
- J. L. Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9274-3092)
- C. C. Miao
- Muyao Yuan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-2721-6266)
- Jiarui Niu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8065-4191)
- Yuan-Pei Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6374-8313)
- Weiwei Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5105-4058)
- C. F. Zhang
- Shuailiang Cao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-6603-5169)
- Y. Feng
- D. J. Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6423-6106)
- Heng Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5031-8098)
- Weiyang Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9036-8543)
- D. D. Zhang
- Yuanhong Qu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4721-4869)
- Qingjun Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0344-5561)
- Rui Luo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4300-121X)
- H. Z. Wang
- Ziwei Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1381-7859)
- K. J. Lee
- Jia Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4346-8696)
- W. C. Jing (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1056-5895)
- J. S. Zhang
- Jinchen Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6465-0091)
- Yongkun Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8744-3546)
- F. Y. Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4157-7714)
- Songbo Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2366-219X)
- Liqiang Meng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3897-3054)
- Bojun Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9434-4773)
- Zheyu Fang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5780-0728)
- Qiuyun Fu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6352-5144)
- Degang Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0752-3408)
- Bing Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9725-2524)
- Di Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3010-7661)
- Pei Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3386-7159)
- Long Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9286-2876)
- Peng Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5387-7952)
- Yan Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3933-5583)
- J. W. Xu
- Mengmeng Xue
- Y. Li
- Y. L. Yue (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-0394-5621)
- Xiulian Miao
- Yifan Pan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-3422-8487)
Institutions
- Ningbo University (CN)
- Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (CN)
- University of Nevada, Las Vegas (US)
- Guizhou Normal University (CN)
- Yunnan University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Peking University (CN)
- Yunnan Observatories (CN)
- Purple Mountain Observatory (CN)
- Guangzhou University (CN)
- Central China Normal University (CN)
- Kavli Institute for Theoretical Sciences (CN)
- National Space Science Center (CN)
- Zhejiang Lab (CN)
- Peng Cheng Laboratory (CN)
- National Astronomical Observatories (CN)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Lanzhou University (CN)
- Beihang University (CN)
- Nanjing University (CN)
- Tsinghua University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Astrophysical Journal Letters
- Published
- 2024-09-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad7023
- Citations
- 27
- Primary Topic
- Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 8.95
Funders
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Max-Planck-Gesellschaft