A team of astronomers, led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has detected what are officially known as fast radio bursts (FRBs), which are intense radio waves that typically last for a few milliseconds. The newly detected FRB, however, lingers for up to three seconds—about 1,000 times longer than average. The signal, labeled FRB 20191221A, is currently the longest-lived FRB with the clearest periodic pattern detected to date. Although the researchers aren’t sure of the source, they suspect the signal comes from a radio pulsar or a magnetar, both of which are types of neutron stars – extremely dense, rapidly spinning collapsed cores of giant stars. Scroll down for videos FRB 20191221A was discovered by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) telescope (pictured). This FRB lasts for up to three seconds – about 1,000 times longer than average The first FRB was detected in 2007, sparking a hunt to find the source and hopefully reveal secrets about intergalactic space by studying the signal’s path. Daniele Michilli, a postdoctoral fellow at MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, said in a statement: “There aren’t many things in the universe that emit strictly periodic signals. “Examples we know in our own galaxy are radio pulsars and magnetars, which rotate and produce a beacon-like beam emission. “And we think this new signal could be a magnetar or pulsar on steroids.” The signal, labeled FRB 20191221A, is currently the longest-lived FRB with the clearest periodic pattern detected to date (stock photo) Fast radio bursts – described as “brief and mysterious beacons” – have been spotted in various and distant parts of the universe, including our own galaxy. Their origin is unknown and their appearance is unpredictable. FRB 20191221A was discovered by the Canadian CHIME (Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment) telescope. CHIME (Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment), located in British Columbia, Canada, has four U-shaped cylinders 328 feet long, allowing it to detect signals from when the universe was between six and 11 billion years old. And this telescope has almost quadrupled the number of fast radio bursts discovered to date. The pattern of FRB 20191221A’s radio bursts was found to have similarities to emissions from radio pulsars and magnetars in our own galaxy. Radio pulsars are neutron stars that emit beams of radio waves, which appear to pulsate as the star rotates, while similar emission is produced by magnetars due to their extreme magnetic fields. The main difference between the new signal and the radio emissions from our own galactic pulsars and magnetars is that FRB 20191221A appears to be more than a million times brighter. Michilli said the bright flashes could be coming from a distant radio pulsar or magnetar that is usually less bright as it spins and for some unknown reason set off a train of bright bursts, “in a rare three-second window that CHIME was fortunately positioned for to catch. ‘ he continued. “CHIME has now detected several FRBs with different properties,” Michilli said. “We’ve seen some that live in clouds that are very turbulent, while others look like they’re in clear environments. “From the properties of this new signal, we can tell that around this source, there is a cloud of plasma that must be extremely turbulent.” Astronomers hope to catch additional bursts from the journal FRB 20191221A, which may help narrow down the source of the signal and learn more about neutron stars. “This detection raises the question of what could cause this extreme signal that we have never seen before, and how we can use this signal to study the universe,” Michilli said. “Future telescopes promise to discover thousands of FRBs a month, and at that point we may find many more of these periodic signals.”
WHAT IS THE CHIME TELESCOPE?
Image provided by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment collaboration shows the CHIME radio telescope The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (Chime) is a radio telescope in Canada. Funded at £12.2 million ($16 million), CHIME is located in the mountains of British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley at the NRC’s Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory near Penticton. It contains four 100-meter (328 ft) long U-shaped cylinders, allowing it to detect signals from when the universe was between 6 and 11 billion years old. With its U-shaped metal mesh rollers, experts have compared it to the half tubes used by snowboarders and skateboarders. CHIME is a fixed array, with no moving parts. The telescope receives radio signals every day from half the sky as the Earth rotates. While most radio astronomy is done by rotating a large dish to focus light from different parts of the sky, CHIME looks at the sky stationary. It focuses incoming signals using a correlator – a powerful digital signaling processor that can work through massive amounts of data, at a rate of about 7 terabits per second, equivalent to a few percent of global Internet traffic. “Digital signal processing is what makes CHIME capable of reconstructing and ‘looking’ in thousands of directions simultaneously,” said Kiyoshi Masui, assistant professor of physics at MIT. “This is what helps us detect FRBs a thousand times more often than a traditional telescope.” Its unique design, combined with advanced computing power, will serve as a “time machine” to look deep into the history of the universe. CHIME collects radio waves with wavelengths between 37 and 75 centimeters. Most of these signals originate in our Milky Way, but some began their journey billions of years ago.
