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Distant Signals Reveal Cosmic Dance: Binary Stars Behind FRBs?
28 Jan
Summary
- Some fast radio bursts may originate from binary star systems.
- An 'RM flare' observed by FAST telescope indicated a companion star.
- The findings challenge previous assumptions about FRB origins.
A groundbreaking discovery by an international research team suggests that some fast radio bursts (FRBs) may originate in binary star systems. These powerful, millisecond-long radio wave flashes, previously thought to emanate from single stars, have now been linked to pairs of stars orbiting each other.
The team utilized the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), also known as the 'China Sky Eye,' to observe a repeating FRB approximately 2.5 billion light-years away. During nearly 20 months of monitoring, an unusual event termed an 'RM flare' was detected. This involved a dramatic shift in the radio signal's polarization properties.
Researchers propose this flare was caused by a coronal mass ejection from a companion star, sending a dense, magnetized plasma cloud through the line of sight. This finding strongly supports a binary system containing a magnetar and a Sun-like star. The observations also relied on Australia's Parkes telescope.
