Searching for radio telescope data in 2007, Duncan Lorimer, an astrophysicist at the University of West Virginia, found something unusual. Briefly, the data obtained six years ago showed a thunderous explosion, not exceeding 5 milliseconds. Others have seen this blip and seen it in the past, but Lorimer and his team calculated that it was a completely new phenomenon: a signal emanating from somewhere outside the galaxy.
The team had no idea what caused this but they published their results in science. The mysterious signal became known as “Fast Radio Burst,” or FRB. In the 13 years since Lorimer’s discovery, dozens of FRBs have been found outside the galaxy – some recurrent and others temporary, single chirps. Astrophysicists are able to direct their home galaxies, but they have struggled to identify the cosmic culprit by placing all sorts of theories, from foreign physics to alien cultures.
On Wednesday, a study trio in the journal Nature described the source of the first FRB discovered Inside The Milky Way galaxy reveals the mechanism behind at least some of the most intense radio explosions.
The newly described explosion, dubbed FRB 200428, was discovered and located in the US and Canada on April 28, 2020 after pinching a radio antenna. A haste was discovered, with teams of researchers from around the world focusing on studying the FRB of the electromagnetic spectrum. . It was quickly determined that FRB 200428 was the most energetic radio pulse ever found in our home galaxy.
In a set of new papers, astrophysicists outline their detective work and progress observations from a handful of ground and space-based telescopes. Combining simultaneous observations, the researchers pinned on FRB 200428 the most unusual wonders of the universe: the hypermagnetic remains of a magnet, a dead supergiant star.
This is the first time astrophysicists have been able to point a finger at a criminal in an international woodcut – but this is just the beginning. “There’s a lot more to learn going forward,” says Amanda Weltman, an astrophysicist at Camp Town University and author of the Nature News article that accompanies the discovery. ”
“This is just the first exciting step.”
Under pressure
To understand where FRB 200428 begins, you need to understand where the star ends.
Many times more stars than the sun are known for untimely death. After they have exhausted all their fuel, physics conspires against them; Their abundant size puts premature pressure on their roots. Gravity forces a star to cling to itself, an impulse that releases huge amounts of energy in an event called a supernova.
The star-born star under extreme pressure is left behind. Except now it is much smaller, just about the size of a city, and 1 million times more than Earth. These stellar zombies are known as neutron stars.
Some neutron stars have extreme magnetic fields, which are about 1000 times stronger than typical neutron stars. They are a mysterious and interesting class for themselves. Astronomers call them “magnets” and they are as strange as FRBs, only 30 have been discovered so far.
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One such magnet in the galaxy is officially known as SGR 1935 + 2154, which refers to its position in the sky. To make things easier, let’s nickname it Meg-1. It was first discovered in 2014 and is located about 30,000 light-years from Earth. On April 27, 2020, NASA’s Neil Garrels Swift Observatory and the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope spike X-rays and gamma-rays emanating from the Mag-1.
The next day, North America’s two giant telescopes – the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) and the Survey for Tragedy Astronomical Radio Action 2 (STARE2) – selected a highly energetic radio blast from the same space: FRB 2004B FR1 Were in the same galactic neighborhood. Or rather, they seemed to be in the same galactic building.
“These observations point to magnets as the FRB’s smoke gun,” says Lime Reimer, lead author of the 2007 discovery of the first radio explosion. Magnetars were previously theorized as potential sources of FRB, but the data provide direct evidence linking the two cosmic phenomena together.
However, just finding the co-location of the explosion with a magnet does not make sense at all.
“Magnetars occasionally produce explosions of bright X-ray emissions,” says Adam Daler, an astrophysicist at Swinburn University in Melbourne, Australia. “But most magnetars have never seen radio emissions.”
Don’t stop me now
Combining the Mag-1 with FRB 200428 is the beginning of a long-term investigation.
In Cosmic Woodunit, astronomers have found a culprit, but they are not sure about the weapon of murder.
By studying the FRB, the researchers were able to determine that it was very energetic, but that it was sent in some deeper space than previously discovered FRB. “It was as bright as the weakest FRB we’ve ever found,” says Marcus Lower, Ph.D. in astronomy. At Swinburne University studying neutron stars. This suggests that may be responsible for the magnet Some FRBs but not all of them – some FRBs seem to be very enthusiastic about being produced the same way they were in 200428.
In another paper in Nature on Wednesday, researchers found that China’s 500-hundred-meter aperture spherical radio telescope (FST) was used to study the Mag-1 during an X-ray outburst. The telescope did not select any radio emissions from magnets during its explosions. This means that it is possible that this type of aggression, alone, is responsible for the very getaway FRB spelling. “It’s certain that not every magnetor fires with a radio blast with X-ray first,” says Deller.
The dealer also notes that the FRB 200428 shows similarities in it Repeat FRB from outside the galaxy.
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This is important because currently astronomers have observed two types of FRBs in other galaxies. There are those who flash life and disappear, and others who repeat with a regular rhythm. Sounds like an FRB 200428 repeater, but a lot weaker. Further observations by the Chime Telescope in October found more radio explosions than magnets, although the work has not yet been published.
Overall, there is still some uncertainty. “We can’t say for sure if magnets are the source of all the FRBs observed to date,” Weltman notes.
Second question: How did Meg-1 create FRB? Two different methods have been suggested.
One suggestion is that a large field of extreme magnetic field around a magnet star produces radio waves similar to X-rays and gamma-rays in their magnetosphere. The second is a little more complicated. “Magnets can stay in a cloud of material hanging from a previous stream,” says Adele Goodwin, an astrophysicist at Curtin University who is not involved with the study. This cloud of goodwin notes can transfer energy to radio waves through X-ray or gamma-ray bursts. Those waves then pass through the universe and travel to the Earth’s detector as FRB.
It is not clear by what method FRB 200428 resulted – or if something more bizarre was happening. Other researchers have suggested that FRB (FRB) may also be, for example, due to the insertion of asteroids into a magnetar. But one thing seems certain now: it is not the alien culture that is trying to approach us. Sorry.
Radio Ga-Ga
A big deal remains to be done to solve the mystery of rapid radio explosions.
For the dealer, the hunt continues. Part of his work is focused Where Origin of FRB. He says his team still needs to collect more data, but it is likely that the recurrence FRB may be different. Types It does not repeat the galaxies of FRB. Weltman notes that the detection of other signals will also intensify, with astronomers looking for electromagnetic radiation and neutrinos generated from the FRB produced by any magnet.
Investigation will, eventually, change the way we look at the universe. Duncan Lorimer notes that if the FRB could be firmly attached to neutron stars, it would provide a way to calculate those extreme cosmic entities. Current methods may not identify neutron star types with great specificity – but FRBs can change that. And FRBs are already changing the way we look at things. A study published in Nature earlier this year used the FRB to solve a decades-old problem with the “missing matter” of the universe.
Lorimer says many of the predictions made by his team since the invention of the first FRB in 2007 have “somehow come true” and he has always hoped that the FRB could become part of the mainstream. As the mysteries deepen, his expectations are exceeded. They have become the most terrifying but interesting phenomenon of astrophysics.
“It continues an interesting adventure,” he says.
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