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High Energy Astrophysical PhenomenaEnglishPublished

Repeating fast‑radio burst FRB 20240209A emits long‑sought polarized signals from an old elliptical galaxy

November 2, 2026arXiv: 2610.40326v1

A new study of the repeating fast‑radio burst FRB 20240209A shows that all three detected bursts share a remarkably small extragalactic rotation measure (RM), consistent with a quiescent, 11‑billion‑year‑old host galaxy. The team used the 100‑meter Green Bank Telescope with its L‑band and 800 MHz receivers to observe three bursts. Full polarimetry was calibrated with PSRCHIVE and the DRAFTS pipeline, allowing the authors to measure the RM and linear‑polarization fraction for each burst. The measured RMs are −40 ± 8 rad m⁻², −60 ± 18 rad m⁻² (−15→+15 rad m⁻²), and −45.5 ± 0.2 rad m⁻². These values are mutually consistent, indicating a small extragalactic RM that matches the low RM predicted from the host‑galaxy dispersion measure. The brightest burst contains eight components that drift toward lower frequencies, each with a moderate polarization fraction that drops toward lower frequencies, likely due to a modest RM scatter of ≃3 rad m⁻². While the observations reveal a clean, low‑ionization environment around this repeater, the authors caution that the result comes from a single source in an old host. Generalizing the simple magneto‑ionic conditions to all old elliptical galaxies therefore remains uncertain. The study included Figure 1, which displays the RM‑corrected polarization position angle, total intensity, linear and circular polarization, and dynamic spectra for the three bursts, illustrating the consistency of the RM values.

Illustration of the polarization position angle, total intensity, linear polarization, and circular polarization of the three FRB 20240209A bursts, showing that the PA curves overlap within their error bands, supporting the claim that all bursts share a similar small extragalactic rotation measure.
Figure 1. Figure 1 shows the rotation‑measure‑corrected polarization position angle (PA) and the total intensity, linear, and circular polarization profiles for the three bursts from FRB 20240209A. The PA curves for all three bursts agree within their uncertainties, indicating mutually consistent rotation measures in the range −40 ± 8 to −60 ± 18 rad m⁻², as described in the surrounding paragraph.Zhang, Yong-Kun, Feng, Yi, Li, Di, Xie, Jin-Tao, Tsai, Chao-Wei, Wang, Pei et al. · arXiv:2610.40326v1 · Figure 1: · CC BY 4.0

Source paper

Polarization and Burst Properties of the Repeating FRB~20240209A in a Quiescent Elliptical Host

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
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Repeating fast‑radio burst FRB 20240209A emits long‑sought polarized signals from an old elliptical galaxy | arXiv News