FRB 20230708A, a quasi-periodic FRB with unique temporal-polarimetric morphology

TL;DR

This paper reports the detection of a quasi-periodic fast radio burst with unique temporal and polarimetric features, providing insights into its possible magnetar origin and the role of microstructure in emission morphology.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed temporal-polarimetric analysis of FRB 20230708A, including modeling of periodicity, scattering, scintillation, and polarization effects.

Findings

Potential 7.267 ms periodicity with low significance

High circular polarization not caused by Faraday conversion

Properties consistent with a magnetar model involving microstructure

Abstract

There has been a rapid increase in the known fast radio burst (FRB) population, yet the progenitor(s) of these events have remained an enigma. A small number of FRBs have displayed some level of quasi-periodicity in their burst profile, which can be used to constrain their plausible progenitors. However, these studies suffer from the lack of polarisation data which can greatly assist in constraining possible FRB progenitors and environments. Here we report on the detection and characterisation of FRB 20230708A by the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), a burst which displays a rich temporal and polarimetric morphology. We model the burst time series to test for the presence of periodicity, scattering and scintillation. We find a potential period of T = 7.267 ms within the burst, but with a low statistical significance of 1.77$\sigma$. Additionally, we model the burst's time- and frequency-dependent polarisation to search for the presence of (relativistic and non-relativistic) propagation effects. We find no evidence to suggest that the high circular polarisation seen in FRB 20230708A is generated by Faraday conversion. The majority of the properties of FRB 20230708A are broadly consistent with a (non-millisecond) magnetar model in which the quasi-periodic morphology results from microstructure in the beamed emission, but other explanations are not excluded.