A fast radio burst at redshift 2, three billion years after the Big Bang
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration radio transients from extragalactic sources. Their frequency and polarization properties are affected by plasma and magnetic fields along the line of sight to Earth. We report radio observations of FRB 20240304B and near-infrared follow-up to identify its host galaxy. The host is a low-mass, clumpy, star-forming galaxy at redshift 2.148 ± 0.0013, corresponding to 3 billion years after the Big Bang. This FRB occurred during the peak of cosmic star formation and probes ionized gas over approximately 80% of cosmic history. The highly scattered burst emission implies that there is a population of FRBs that are undetected by current surveys.
Authors
- Laura Driessen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4405-3273)
- Lluís Mas-Ribas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4584-8841)
- Nicolás Tejos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1883-4252)
- Clancy W. James (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6437-6176)
- Wen‐fai Fong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7374-935X)
- Jun Tian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4842-7076)
- E D Barr (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8715-9628)
- Karl Glazebrook (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3254-9044)
- Jason Xavier Prochaska (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7738-6875)
- D. Christopher Martin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8650-1644)
- Inés Pastor-Marazuela (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4357-8027)
- M C Bezuidenhout (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9541-7439)
- Themiya Nanayakkara (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2804-0648)
- Anya E. Nugent (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2028-9329)
- M. Kramer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4175-2271)
- Kaustubh M. Rajwade (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8043-6909)
- B. W. Stappers (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9242-7041)
- Alexa C. Gordon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5025-4645)
- Lachlan James Marnoch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1483-0147)
- F. Jankowski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6658-2811)
- Manisha Caleb (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4079-4648)
- Ilya S. Khrykin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0574-7421)
- Sunil Simha (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3801-1496)
- Lordrick Kahinga (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-5296-4046)
- Zeren Lin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-7405-1228)
- Xihan Deng
- Jordan Luke Hoffmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-6463-3080)
- Kavya Shaji (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-7685-183X)
Institutions
- Smithsonian Institution (US)
- Northwestern University (US)
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- Australia Telescope National Facility (AU)
- Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (CL)
- Australian Research Council (AU)
- Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (US)
- University of South Africa (ZA)
- Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (JP)
- University of California, Santa Cruz (US)
- Curtin University (AU)
- The University of Dodoma (TZ)
- University of Manchester (GB)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- University of Chicago (US)
- Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (US)
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (AU)
- ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (AU)
- Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (DE)
- National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (JP)
- International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (AU)
- University of California Observatories (US)
- Swinburne University of Technology (AU)
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
- Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (NL)
- Macquarie University (AU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science
- Published
- 2026-10-08
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adz2675
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.30