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Peer-reviewedCC BYScience

A fast radio burst at redshift 2, three billion years after the Big Bang

  • Manisha Caleb1,2
  • Themiya Nanayakkara3,4,2
  • B. W. Stappers5
  • Inés Pastor-Marazuela6,5,7
  • Ilya S. Khrykin8
  • Karl Glazebrook3
  • Nicolás Tejos8
  • Jason Xavier Prochaska9,10,11
  • Kaustubh M. Rajwade12
  • Lluís Mas-Ribas9,13
  • Laura Driessen2
  • Wen‐fai Fong14
16 more authors
  • Alexa C. Gordon14
  • Jordan Luke Hoffmann15
  • Clancy William James15
  • F. Jankowski16
  • Lordrick Kahinga9,17
  • M. Krämer5,18
  • Sunil Simha14,19
  • E D Barr18
  • M C Bezuidenhout20
  • Xihan Deng21
  • Zeren Lin21
  • Lachlan Marnoch22,23,24,25
  • D. Christopher Martin21
  • Anya E. Nugent26
  • Kavya Shaji23,1,2
  • J Tian5
26 affiliations
  1. 1Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery, Australian Research Council, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia
  2. 2Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  3. 3Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia
  4. 4JWST Australian Data Centre, Swinburne Advanced Manufacturing and Design Centre, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia
  5. 5Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
  6. 6Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  7. 7Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, Dwingeloo, Netherlands
  8. 8Instituto de Física, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile
  9. 9Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
  10. 10Division of Science, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan
  11. 11Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, Kashiwanoha, Japan
  12. 12Department of Astrophysics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
  13. 13University of California Observatories, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
  14. 14Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
  15. 15International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
  16. 16Laboratory of Physics and Chemistry of the Environment and Space, Space Sciences Observatories, University of Orleans, National Center for Scientific Research, National Center for Space Studies, Observatoire de Paris, Orleans, France
  17. 17Department of Physics, University of Dodoma, Dodoma, Tanzania
  18. 18Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Bonn, Germany
  19. 19Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
  20. 20Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of South Africa, Roodepoort, South Africa
  21. 21Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
  22. 22Astrophysics and Space Technologies Research Centre, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  23. 23Australia Telescope National Facility, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Epping, New South Wales, Australia
  24. 24Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Astrophysics in Three Dimensions, Australian Research Council, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
  25. 25School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  26. 26Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA
Open at sourceDOICite

Abstract

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration radio transients from extragalactic sources. Their frequency and polarization properties are affected by plasma and magnetic fields along the line of sight to Earth. We report radio observations of FRB 20240304B and near-infrared follow-up to identify its host galaxy. The host is a low-mass, clumpy, star-forming galaxy at redshift 2.148 ± 0.0013, corresponding to 3 billion years after the Big Bang. This FRB occurred during the peak of cosmic star formation and probes ionized gas over approximately 80% of cosmic history. The highly scattered burst emission implies that there is a population of FRBs that are undetected by current surveys.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{caleb2026fast,
  title = {{A fast radio burst at redshift 2, three billion years after the Big Bang}},
  author = {Manisha Caleb and Themiya Nanayakkara and B. W. Stappers and Inés Pastor-Marazuela and Ilya S. Khrykin and Karl Glazebrook and Nicolás Tejos and Jason Xavier Prochaska and Kaustubh M. Rajwade and Lluís Mas-Ribas and Laura Driessen and Wen‐fai Fong and Alexa C. Gordon and Jordan Luke Hoffmann and Clancy William James and F. Jankowski and Lordrick Kahinga and M. Krämer and Sunil Simha and E D Barr and M C Bezuidenhout and Xihan Deng and Zeren Lin and Lachlan Marnoch and D. Christopher Martin and Anya E. Nugent and Kavya Shaji and J Tian},
  journal = {Science},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1126/science.adz2675},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adz2675},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - A fast radio burst at redshift 2, three billion years after the Big Bang
AU  - Manisha Caleb
AU  - Themiya Nanayakkara
AU  - B. W. Stappers
AU  - Inés Pastor-Marazuela
AU  - Ilya S. Khrykin
AU  - Karl Glazebrook
AU  - Nicolás Tejos
AU  - Jason Xavier Prochaska
AU  - Kaustubh M. Rajwade
AU  - Lluís Mas-Ribas
AU  - Laura Driessen
AU  - Wen‐fai Fong
AU  - Alexa C. Gordon
AU  - Jordan Luke Hoffmann
AU  - Clancy William James
AU  - F. Jankowski
AU  - Lordrick Kahinga
AU  - M. Krämer
AU  - Sunil Simha
AU  - E D Barr
AU  - M C Bezuidenhout
AU  - Xihan Deng
AU  - Zeren Lin
AU  - Lachlan Marnoch
AU  - D. Christopher Martin
AU  - Anya E. Nugent
AU  - Kavya Shaji
AU  - J Tian
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/08
JO  - Science
DO  - 10.1126/science.adz2675
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adz2675
AB  - Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration radio transients from extragalactic sources. Their frequency and polarization properties are affected by plasma and magnetic fields along the line of sight to Earth. We report radio observations of FRB 20240304B and near-infrared follow-up to identify its host galaxy. The host is a low-mass, clumpy, star-forming galaxy at redshift 2.148 ± 0.0013, corresponding to 3 billion years after the Big Bang. This FRB occurred during the peak of cosmic star formation and probes ionized gas over approximately 80% of cosmic history. The highly scattered burst emission implies that there is a population of FRBs that are undetected by current surveys.
SN  - 0036-8075
SN  - 0193-4511
SN  - 1095-9203
ER  -