Propagation of a fast radio burst through a birefringent relativistic plasma

Understand

The study of impulsive astrophysical radio emission makes it possible to probe the intervening plasma between the emission source and the Earth.

• In cold electron-ion plasmas, the circular propagating wave modes primarily alter the linear polarization plane that scales with the inverse-square of the emission frequency.
• In relativistic plasmas, the wave modes are elliptically polarized, and it is possible to convert linearly polarized emission into circular and vice versa.
• Fast radio bursts (FRBs) enable the study of not only the electron-ion plasma of the intergalactic medium but potentially the extreme magneto-ionic medium in which these intense pulses are produced.