More than 1,600 high-speed radio explosions in one place…

An international astronomy research team, including the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, has observed more than 1,600 high-speed radio bursts and FRB (Fast Radio Bursts) phenomena from a single source in outer space. The largest dataset for FRB, which is still a mystery, is expected to elucidate its mechanism through future analysis.

A high-speed radio explosion is a high-energy propagation lashing phenomenon that occurs instantaneously in space. FRB, which emits energy equivalent to that of the sun in a few milliseconds to a few days to a year, a recent study showed that it is most likely caused by a celestial body with a high magnetic force called a magnetar.

The research team conducted observations on 47th, 2018 and announced in the journal Nature on October 13 that they observed FRB number 1,652 from a source in outer space. So far, the FRB phenomenon is a huge number considering that it has been observed only 347 times since its discovery in 2012.

The source, designated FRB 121102, was observed using the Chinese Five-hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST). The research team said that this is the first time that an FRB source has been able to investigate in such detail, and that it is possible to conduct additional examinations of the phenomena energy source and emission that have not been done before.

In a study based on that data, FRB 121102 was much more active than expected, and detected 122 bursts per hour at its peak. There can be two models for the structure in which the magnetar causes this phenomenon. The first reason is that the magnetosphere, that is, the magneta, generates FRB in a strong magnetic field. The second is that the FRB arises from a relative impact outside the magnetosphere that moves at the speed of light.

The researchers say their findings raise great questions about the feasibility of the latter model. The problem is that it occurs too many times, and a large amount of energy is required to establish the latter model. This suggests that it is difficult for a small object such as a magneta to generate more energy than the sun over this number of times.

However, there is no evidence to conclude that magneta is not the cause of the FRB, and this study can only be said to have deepened the mystery in a sense. The research team expects to be able to systematically and continuously investigate FRBs that will be repeated in the future using FAST. If the source of FRB 121102 is not a magnetar, it does not mean that the magneta does not exist as another source of FRB. After all, there are various characteristics of FRB signals from different sources, and this mechanism has not been elucidated enough to be explained by a specific structure. Related information can be found here.