Scintillation Velocity and Arc Observations of FRB 20201124A

Abstract

We present the scintillation velocity measurements of FRB 20201124A from the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope observations, which reveal an annual variation. This annual variation is further supported by changes detected in the scintillation arc as observed from the secondary spectrum. We attribute the annual velocity variation to the presence of a moderately anisotropic scattering screen located at a distance of 0.4 ± 0.1 kpc from Earth. Our results prove that the scintillation of this fast radio burst (FRB) is mainly caused by material close to Earth on a Galactic scale. However, scintillation observations of other FRBs may expose their surrounding environment or uncover possible orbital motion if scintillation is caused by materials in their host galaxy.