Astronomers discover record haul of 25 new repeating 'fast radio bursts'
A team of astronomers has discovered a record number of 25 new repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs), doubling the known population and bringing the total number of known repeating FRBs to 50. FRBs are powerful and brief radio signals emitted by distant galaxies outside the Milky Way, and the cause of these signals is not yet fully understood. However, astronomers believe that they are likely produced by the leftovers from explosive stellar deaths, making their study useful for understanding the end stages of a star's life. The discovery of more repeating FRBs can help unravel their secrets and understand the astrophysical processes that create them. The study team used a new set of statistical tools to analyze every repeating FRB ever seen, including ones that aren't immediately obvious.
Fast radio burst (FRB):
In radio astronomy,a fast radio burst (FRB) is a transient radio pulse of length ranging from a fraction of a millisecond to 3 seconds,caused by some high-energy astrophysical process not yet understood. Astronomers estimate the average FRB releases as much energy in a millisecond as the Sun puts out in three days. While extremely energetic at their source, the strength of the signal reaching Earth has been described as 1,000 times less than from a mobile phone on the Moon.
Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment:
The study was led by astronomers from the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME)/FRB (chime-frb) Collaboration and the University of Toronto. The team developed a new set of statistical tools and combed through data to analyze every repeating FRB ever seen, including ones that aren't immediately obvious. This helped them accurately calculate the probability that two or more bursts coming from similar locations are not just a coincidence.
The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) is a novel transit radio telescope operating across the 400–800 MHz band.
One surprising aspect of this new research is the discovery that many repeating FRBs are surprisingly inactive, producing under one burst per week during CHIME's observing time. However, this could be because these FRBs haven't yet been observed long enough for a second burst to be spotted. Repeating FRBs are extremely useful to astronomers as they present the opportunity to observe the same FRB source with telescopes other than the one that initially sighted them, allowing these mysterious events to be viewed in finer detail.
The fact that repeating and non-repeating FRBs seem to have different characteristics, including how long they last and the range of frequencies they are seen across, points to their varied origins. The discovery of more repeating FRBs could help confirm this. The team's findings could also have implications beyond helping narrow down the hunt for the origins of FRBs. By studying repeating FRB sources in detail,
astronomers can better understand the environments that these explosions occur in and learn more about the material that's being expelled before and during the star's demise, which is then returned to the galaxies that the FRBs live in.
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Radio telescopes like CHIME have been integral to the detection of FRBs, and CHIME has an edge over other telescopes when it comes to discovering FRBs due to its ability to scan the entire northern sky every day. The team's findings were published online in The Astrophysical Journal. As the study of FRBs continues to advance, astronomers remain hopeful that they will one day uncover the mysteries of these powerful and enigmatic cosmic explosions.
