An Extremely Active Repeating Fast Radio Burst Source in a Likely Nonmagneto-ionic Environment

Abstract

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are bright radio bursts originating at cosmological distances. Only three repeating FRBs FRB 20121102A, FRB 20190520B, and FRB 20201124A among ∼60 known repeating FRBs have circular polarization. We observed the FRB 20220912A with the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) at L-band on 2022 October 24 and detected 128 bursts in 1.4 hr, corresponding to a burst rate of about 90 hr⁻¹, which is the highest yet for FRBs observed by the GBT. The average rotation measure (RM) was −0.4 ± 0.3 rad m⁻² with negligible intraday RM change, indicating a likely nonmagneto-ionic environment. A total of 61% of bursts have a linear polarization fraction greater than 90%. Approximately 56% of the bright bursts have circular polarization. A downward drift in frequency and polarization angle swings were found in our sample. The characterization of FRB 20220912A indicates that the circular polarization is unlikely to be caused by the magneto-ionic environment for at least some of the repeating FRB population.