No Strong Evidence for Plasma Lensing in FRB 20240114A

@article{niu2026strong,
  title = {{No Strong Evidence for Plasma Lensing in FRB 20240114A}},
  author = {Jiarui Niu and Nan Xu and Xiaohui Liu and Songyu Shen and Junshuo Zhang and Tiancong Wang and Pawan Kumar and Yuanhong Qu and Dejiang Zhou and Weiwei Zhu and Bing Zhang and He Gao and Dongzi Li and Jinlin Han and D. Li and Xuelei Chen and Kejia Lee and Ye Li and Weiyang Wang and Qiuyang Fu and Jiawei Jin and Yanqing Cai and Caisong Liu and Shuo Cao and Ziwei Wu and Dengke Zhou and Longxuan Zhang and Wanjin Lu and Yi Feng and Chenhui Niu and Jiawei Luo and Rui Luo and Chunfeng Zhang and Shiqian Zhao and Chengwei Liang},
  journal = {The Astrophysical Journal Letters},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/aeb602},
  url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/aeb602},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - No Strong Evidence for Plasma Lensing in FRB 20240114A
AU  - Jiarui Niu
AU  - Nan Xu
AU  - Xiaohui Liu
AU  - Songyu Shen
AU  - Junshuo Zhang
AU  - Tiancong Wang
AU  - Pawan Kumar
AU  - Yuanhong Qu
AU  - Dejiang Zhou
AU  - Weiwei Zhu
AU  - Bing Zhang
AU  - He Gao
AU  - Dongzi Li
AU  - Jinlin Han
AU  - D. Li
AU  - Xuelei Chen
AU  - Kejia Lee
AU  - Ye Li
AU  - Weiyang Wang
AU  - Qiuyang Fu
AU  - Jiawei Jin
AU  - Yanqing Cai
AU  - Caisong Liu
AU  - Shuo Cao
AU  - Ziwei Wu
AU  - Dengke Zhou
AU  - Longxuan Zhang
AU  - Wanjin Lu
AU  - Yi Feng
AU  - Chenhui Niu
AU  - Jiawei Luo
AU  - Rui Luo
AU  - Chunfeng Zhang
AU  - Shiqian Zhao
AU  - Chengwei Liang
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/11/04
JO  - The Astrophysical Journal Letters
DO  - 10.3847/2041-8213/aeb602
UR  - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/aeb602
AB  - FRB 20240114A is an extremely active repeating fast radio burst for which plasma lensing has been proposed to explain its burst-rate variations, spectral evolution, and apparently “carbon-copy” burst pairs. Using Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) data and publicly available Parkes observations, we test this interpretation with the predictions of a one-dimensional Gaussian plasma-lens model. Although the burst-rate enhancements may be fitted separately for Parkes and FAST, the corresponding magnification peaks and demagnification troughs between the two datasets are offset from each other, inconsistent with plasma-lensing predictions. The enhancement peaks also do not show consistent periodicity, disfavoring a binary plasma-lensing origin. The burst bandwidths are not systematically narrower during the proposed lensing interval than in other episodes. Most importantly, the burst energy distribution, which shows an intrinsic turnover peak at low energies, shows no significant shift of the turnover during the magnification interval, providing a model-independent test to the plasma-lensing interpretation. All these suggest that there is no strong evidence in favor of a plasma-lensing interpretation to the source. Rather, all the burst property variations are consistent with being caused by intrinsic variations in the FRB central engine.
SN  - 2041-8213
SN  - 2041-8205
ER  -