Could a magnetar, a kind of neutron star with an immensely strong magnetic field, be responsible for the mysterious signals?
Goddard Space Flight Center / S of NASA. Wiessinger
Fast radio waves – strange, sometimes repetitive signals from the other side of the cosmos – really have a moment in 2020. The origins of the mysterious signals from space continue to puzzle the scientists as they briefly hum the earth briefly. However, as the number of FRBs discovered continues to increase, astronomers are beginning to understand them a little better, and they even used them in May Solve the missing matter problem of the universe.
Although many bursts that astronomers have recognized are unique, one particular burst, known as FRB 180916.J0158 + 65, is particularly loud and constant and has been recognized 38 times.
A study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature by researchers of the Canadian hydrogen intensity mapping experiment Fast Radio Burst (CHIME / FRB) describes the recurring outbreaks of FRB 180916.J0158 + 65 from September 2018 to February 2020. The Outbreak has previously been localized to one Spiral galaxy about 500 million light years awayand the collaboration between CHIME and FRB documented their unusual rhythm in February in a preprint paper.
With the huge ground-based CHIME telescope in British Columbia, the researchers were able to record the space signals with a regularity of 16 days. For four days, they recognized the radio waves about every hour before the signals suddenly stopped. Then, after 12 days of silence, they would sit back. The rhythm of the bursts seems to follow this pattern, but it is unusual that no other FRBs have discovered this cycle in the same way.
And that’s good news!
“This is an astonishing result, as it gives us a completely new insight into the causes of these repetitive rapid bursts,” said Adam Deller, astrophysicist at Swinburne University of Technology, who was not involved in the study.
Repeated bursts provide the best opportunity to understand what FRBs could cause as they give astronomers a second, third, or 38th look at the signal. There are dozens of theories, but the source of the signals remains a mystery. A prominent theory is that FRBs are caused by magnetars, a type of neutron star with an extremely strong magnetic field. These stars spin around their axis and can emit energy rays, but our current understanding of these cosmic beasts suggests that they would spin too quickly to achieve the periodicity observed in FRB 180916.J0158 + 65.
“The recent discovery of an immensely bright outbreak of a magnetar in our own galaxy was another big piece of the puzzle,” says Deller. “It was the most similar thing we’ve ever seen in our Milky Way.”
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Another theory is that it is just a normal old neutron star with a focused radio beam that only occasionally sweeps our field of view on Earth. Perhaps even a nearby black hole interferes with the signal due to its enormous attraction. Astronomers still don’t know.
To make matters worse, many of the detected ultra-powerful radio signals do not repeat themselves. We hear them and they disappear. As more repeaters are discovered, we come closer to understanding their nature. In 2019 the The CHIME collaboration discovered a new set of eight repeating bursts that can be used for follow-up analysis. It is hoped that by studying repetitive eruptions, astronomers can shed light on these mysterious signals.
More recently A second recurring outbreak was found with an unusual periodicity. His cycle seemed to work on a 157-day timeline – 90 days of activity and 67 days when it fell silent.
Astronomers need to focus their telescopes on repeating FRBs over long periods of time to pull apart what they are. There is also the possibility that further research will show that the unusual rhythm of FRB 180916.J0158 + 65 is not a rhythm at all.
Very few recurring outbreaks have been located in their home in the universe, and ASKAP, an Australian facility looking for FRBs, does “overtime” to find out which galaxies they come from, according to Deller. This allows a better comparison between galaxies that house repeating FRBs and those that don’t.
Anyway – and I know what you think – it’s very, very unlikely to be aliens.
Discussion of repeated bursts last year, Deller said: “I think we will most likely work out a natural explanation for these events, but I like to be open and follow where the evidence leads me.
This post originally appeared in February and was updated after the work was peer reviewed.