Two X-ray telescopes NASA A mystery has been observed A burst of radio wavesKnown as FRB For its summary in English, minutes before and after it happened.
The agency's statement said this unprecedented sighting leads scientists to a better understanding of these extreme radio events.
Although they last only a fraction of a second, the FRB (Fast Radio Burst) They emit as much energy as the sun emits in a year. Their light creates laser-like beams that differ from the more chaotic cosmic explosions.
Where do they come from?
Because the eruptions are so brief, it is often difficult to identify where they are coming from. Before 2020, their origins were traced to those outside our own galaxy, too far away for astronomers to see what created them. Then, one A quick burst Radio The explosion in Earth's home galaxy, the Milky Way, was caused by extremely dense matter magnet: Collapsed remains of an exploded star.
In October 2022, the same magnetSGR produced another rapid burst, known as 1935+2154 Radio, is extensively studied by NASA's NICER (Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer) on the International Space Station and NUSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array) in low Earth orbit. Telescopes observed magnet For hours, watching what happened before and after the surface of the source material and its immediate surroundings. Rapid radio burst.
The results are described in a The new study was published February 14 in the journal NatureAn example of how NASA telescopes can work together to monitor and track short-term events in the universe.
There was an explosion between the two “failures”. magnet It suddenly began to spin rapidly. SGR 1935+2154 is estimated to be about 20 kilometers across and rotates about 3.2 times per second, meaning its surface is moving at 11,000 km/h.
It takes a considerable amount of energy to slow it down or speed it up. That's why the study authors were surprised to find that among the failures magnet That's a nine-hour drop from pre-failure speeds, or 100 times faster than ever seen magnet.
“Generally, when failures occur, the magnet It will take weeks or months to return to its normal speed,” Xin-Ping Hu, an astrophysicist at National Tsanghua University of Education in Taiwan and lead author of the new study, said in a statement. “Things are clear in these objects. It may be related to how quickly, on much shorter time scales than we previously thought Radio bursts“.
In an effort to understand exactly how Magnets Production Fast radio burstsScientists must consider many variables.
For example, the Magnets (which is a type of neutron star) are so dense that a teaspoon of their material would weigh about a billion tons on Earth. Such high density also means a strong gravitational pull: a marshmallow falling on a typical neutron star would be hit by the force of one of the first nuclear bombs.
Strong attraction is the surface of a magnet It is a turbulent space, periodically emitting high-energy X-rays and bursts of light. in front Rapid radio burst It happened in 2022 magnet It began emitting bursts of X-rays and gamma rays (even more energetic wavelengths of light) that were seen in the outer field of vision of high-powered space telescopes. This increase in activity led mission operators to directly target NICER and NuSTAR magnet.
“All X-ray bursts prior to this failure would, in principle, have had enough energy to create one. Fast radio burst“But they don't,” said study co-author Zoravar Wadiasingh, a research scientist at the University of Maryland, College Park, and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The right conditions.”
Like water in a swirling fish tank
What else could have happened to produce SGR 1935+2154? Fast radio burst? A factor may be the externality of a magnet It is solid and its high density compresses the interior to a state known as superfluid. Occasionally, the two may synchronize, like the flow of water in a swirling fish tank. When this happens, the fluid can provide energy to the membrane. The authors of the article believe that this may be the reason for both of these failures Fast radio burst.
If the initial failure surface is cracked magnet, may have released material into space as volcanic eruptions from the interior of the star. Mass loss slows down rotating objects, so researchers believe this could explain the rapid fall. magnet.
But the team, which has only observed one of these events in real time, can't yet say for sure which of these factors (or others, such as a powerful magnetic field). magnet) lead to a production Fast radio burst. Some may not be associated with outbreaks.
“Undoubtedly, we have observed something important to our understanding Fast radio burstssaid George Younes, a Goddard researcher and member of the NICER Scientific Committee Magnets. “But I think we need a lot more data to solve the mystery.” (with information from Europa Press)
