According to new research, the cosmic object is unique compared to other findings of radio explosions in recent years.
Faster radio explosions, or FRBs, are millisecond-long bursts of radio waves in space. Personal radio eruptions emit once and do not repeat. But fast radio explosions repeatedly transmit short, energetic radio waves several times.
Astronomers have been able to rediscover some radio explosions in their home galaxies, but they have not yet determined the true cause of the pulses. Learning more about the origin of these bright, intense radio emissions will help scientists understand what causes them.
When radio waves exploded on May 20, 2019, astronomers discovered an object named FRB 190520. Researchers used a five-meter-wide spherical radio telescope or FAST in China and discovered an explosion in the telescope. Data for November 2019. When they made follow-up observations, astronomers noticed something unusual – the object frequently, repeatedly emitting explosions of radio waves.
In 2020, the group will be led by Carl G. of the National Science Foundation. Janski detected the appearance of an explosion using the Very Large Array or VLA telescopes and the Subaru telescope in Hawaii. Observations in Subaru’s visible light showed that the eruption came from the outskirts of a distant dwarf galaxy.
In two ways
VLA observations also revealed the sky The material constantly emits weak radio waves between repeated explosions. This is very similar to the only known fast radio explosion, FRB 121102: FRB 121102, discovered in 2016.
“Now we really need to explain this dual mystery, why FRBs and serial radio sources are sometimes seen together,” said Casey Law, a radio astronomer at the California Institute of Technology. “Is this common when FRBs are young? Or is it a large black hole that could cause explosions? Will it confuse the neighboring star? Theorists now have a lot more details to work on, and the scope for explanation is shrinking.”
Currently, less than 5% of the hundreds of rapid radio explosions identified are known to be recurrent and only a few of them are still active.
But only FRB 190520 is still active, meaning it has never been “turned off” since its discovery, said De Li, chief scientific researcher at the Radio Division of China’s National Astronomical Laboratories and Rapid Action Center. Meanwhile, FRB 121102, “the first known popular repeater, can be turned off for several months,” Li said.
New questions
Recent discoveries raise more questions because astronomers are now wondering if there could be two types of fast radio explosions.
“Are repetitive, different from non-repetitive? Serial radio emissions – is it common?” Kshitij Agarwal, a research associate professor who was involved in the study as a doctoral student at the University of West Virginia, said in a statement.
There may be different mechanisms that cause radio explosions or they all work differently. At different stages of evolution.
Previously, scientists thought that fast radio explosions were caused by neutron stars with incredibly strong magnetic fields, called dense remnants or magnetic fields remaining after a supernova called a neutron star.
FRB 190520 is considered a potential “newborn” object Because the law said it was located in a dense environment. That environment can be caused by an object released by a supernova, resulting in the formation of a neutron star. As this material disintegrates over time, eruptions from FRB 190520 may decrease with age.
Li wants to detect radio explosions even faster.
“A consistent picture of the origin and evolution of FRBs is likely to emerge in a few years,” Li said.
The law is excited about the implications of having a new type of radio wave source.
“For decades, astronomers thought that there were two types of radio sources we could see in other galaxies: giant black holes and star formation,” the law said. “Now we say it can not be a / or categorical! There is a new baby in town and it should be taken into account when reading the population of radio sources in the universe.”
