In March this year, scientists caught 10 powerful bursts of radio signals coming from the same space in space. Scientists recently caught 6 more new signals from the same place, located outside of our Milky Way. These fast discrete radio pulses (FRBs) are of great interest to scientists for their unusualness. They lasted only a few milliseconds, but at the same time in a very short period of time they generated as much energy as the Sun could only in a whole day.
Before the discovery of the first 10 signals in March, almost everyone in the scientific community believed that such radio pulses were single phenomena occurring in various parts of the universe. Since the previously observed radio bursts did not have any common characteristic, the researchers were unable to figure out what actually was their source. Interestingly, such radio pulses themselves are not uncommon. Scientists note that about 2000 FRBs occur daily throughout the Universe, but their very low duration does not allow us to find out their nature.
It is important to note that science began to open FRB only in 2007 - until that moment, the available scientific and technical equipment was not so powerful and accurate that it was possible to monitor them in real time. As a rule, one had to study these phenomena after they had occurred. However, this year, astronomers immediately detected 16 emissions coming from the same direction, so scientists will most likely finally have the opportunity to narrow down the search and suspects in these incredibly powerful, but short-lived bursts.
The first ten bursts of radio waves were caught by our telescopes in March this year, however, as scientists indicate, they originate in May and June 2015. Not only were they the first FRB signals to be detected outside the Milky Way (all previously observed were presumably formed inside our galaxy), but they also showed common characteristics that had never been observed before.
Six radio signals were detected by the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico in the interval of only 10 minutes between each, four others were detected within a month, with all 10 coming from the same space in space. When the research team reviewed the earlier astronomical data, it was discovered that the 2012 FRB signal also came to us from the same space in space. That is, a total of 11 signals have already originated from the same region. This led scientists to the idea that there may be some unknown, but incredibly powerful source outside the Milky Way, capable of sending short but very powerful signals at very frequent intervals.
The new six signals were discovered by scientists from the Canadian McGill University. They all came from the same space in space, so they decided to ultimately give the source of these radio signals the common name FRB 121102.
“We report radio and X-ray observations of the only current source of transient but repetitive radio signals, FRB 121102,” the team of researchers wrote in The Astrophysical Journal.
“We found six more bursts of radio signals coming from this source: five of them were detected by the Green Bank telescope at 2 GHz, the last one, at 1.4 GHz, was received by the Arecibo Observatory Telescope. Now the total number of identical signals is 17.
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The team points out that they cannot pinpoint the exact location of FRB 121102, but given how much their lower frequencies have been slowed down, it's safe to say that they originate far beyond the Milky Way. And just this information can give us some important clues about what exactly their source is.
One of the most popular assumptions is the collision of two neutron stars forming a black hole. The scientists were prompted to this opinion by the specificity of the short duration of radio signals. The two colliding neutron stars are likely just throwing bursts of radio waves into all corners of the universe.
However, the repetitive nature of these distant signals, especially if we take into account their common direction, may indicate that the colliding neutron stars have nothing to do with it. At least in the case of these particular FRB signals. All 17 signals indicate that less dramatic moments are taking place in this region of space. The most likely hypothesis at this point is that all of these signals could come from some exotic object, like a young neutron star, which is spinning at such a frequency that it is capable of emitting incredibly powerful pulses.
It should also be understood that the observed different FRB types do not need to be in conflict with each other. Earlier studies indicate that different types of discrete radio pulses can occur in the Universe, with different origins. This is at least supported by the fact that the repeating radio pulses from FRB 121102 turned out to be wider than those observed inside our galaxy. However, without additional evidence, scientists are not yet ready to give a confident answer to the question of their real source.
"Whether the source of the FRB 121102 radio pulses is a unique object or all radio pulses tend to repeat itself - in any case, it is very interesting to find out and understand the principles and features of such a fast intergalactic radio transmission," the researchers say.
Scientists continue to monitor the sky and await the appearance of new FRBs both inside and outside our galaxy, hoping this time to find out their exact nature. According to the researchers, this knowledge will help us solve other mysteries of our universe.
NIKOLAY KHIZHNYAK