Re-Analysis of Breakthrough Listen Observations of FRB 121102: Polarization Properties of Eight New Spectrally Narrow Bursts

TL;DR

This study re-analyzed high-frequency observations of FRB 121102, revealing eight new narrowband bursts with nearly 100% linear polarization, high Faraday rotation, and stable polarization angles, confirming their physical nature.

Contribution

The paper provides new polarization measurements of eight narrowband bursts from FRB 121102, supporting the effectiveness of sub-banded search techniques and confirming burst properties at high frequencies.

Findings

Bursts exhibit nearly 100% linear polarization.

Faraday rotation measures are around 9.3×10^4 rad-m^-2.

Detection confirms physical nature of narrowband bursts.

Abstract

We report polarization properties for eight narrowband bursts from FRB 121102 that have been re-detected in a high-frequency (4-8 GHz) Breakthrough Listen observation with the Green Bank Telescope, originally taken on 2017 August 26. The bursts were found to exhibit nearly 100% linear polarization, Faraday rotation measures (RM) bordering 9.3$\times$10$^4$ rad-m$^{-2}$, and stable polarization position angles (PA), all of which agree with burst properties previously reported for FRB 121102 at the same epoch. We confirm that these detections are indeed physical bursts with limited spectral occupancies and further support the use of sub-banded search techniques in FRB detection.