The magnetic field and turbulence of the cosmic web measured using a brilliant fast radio burst

V Ravi; R M Shannon; M Bailes; K Bannister; S Bhandari; N D R Bhat; S Burke-Spolaor; M Caleb; C Flynn; A Jameson; S Johnston; E F Keane; M Kerr; C Tiburzi; A V Tuntsov; H K Vedantham

doi:10.1126/science.aaf6807

The magnetic field and turbulence of the cosmic web measured using a brilliant fast radio burst

Science. 2016 Dec 9;354(6317):1249-1252. doi: 10.1126/science.aaf6807. Epub 2016 Nov 17.

Authors

V Ravi¹, R M Shannon^{2

3}, M Bailes^{4

5}, K Bannister⁶, S Bhandari^{4

5}, N D R Bhat^{3

5}, S Burke-Spolaor⁷, M Caleb^{4

5

8}, C Flynn^{4

5}, A Jameson^{4

5}, S Johnston⁶, E F Keane⁹, M Kerr⁶, C Tiburzi¹⁰, A V Tuntsov¹¹, H K Vedantham¹²

Affiliations

¹ Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, MC249-17, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. vikram@caltech.edu ryan.shannon@csiro.au.
² Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) Astronomy and Space Science, Australia Telescope National Facility, Post Office Box 76, Epping, NSW 1710, Australia. vikram@caltech.edu ryan.shannon@csiro.au.
³ International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Curtin University, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia.
⁴ Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, Post Office Box 218, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia.
⁵ ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO), Australia.
⁶ Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) Astronomy and Space Science, Australia Telescope National Facility, Post Office Box 76, Epping, NSW 1710, Australia.
⁷ National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Array Operations Center, Post Office Box 0, Socorro, NM 87801-0387, USA.
⁸ Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, ACT 2611, Australia.
⁹ Square Kilometer Array (SKA) Organisation, Jodrell Bank Observatory, SK11 9DL, UK.
¹⁰ Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Auf dem Hügel 69, 53121 Bonn, Germany.
¹¹ Manly Astrophysics, 3/22 Cliff Street, Manly NSW 2095, Australia.
¹² Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, MC249-17, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.

PMID: 27856844
DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf6807

Abstract

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration events thought to originate beyond the Milky Way galaxy. Uncertainty surrounding the burst sources, and their propagation through intervening plasma, has limited their use as cosmological probes. We report on a mildly dispersed (dispersion measure 266.5 ± 0.1 parsecs per cubic centimeter), exceptionally intense (120 ± 30 janskys), linearly polarized, scintillating burst (FRB 150807) that we directly localize to 9 square arc minutes. On the basis of a low Faraday rotation (12.0 ± 0.7 radians per square meter), we infer negligible magnetization in the circum-burst plasma and constrain the net magnetization of the cosmic web along this sightline to <21 nanogauss, parallel to the line-of-sight. The burst scintillation suggests weak turbulence in the ionized intergalactic medium.