Scientists detect eight new repetitive radio bursts

Astronomers have identified eight new, repeated sources of fast radio gusts using Canada's CHIME telescope.

The results, led by Bridget Andersen of McGill University, could be a breakthrough in the study of these cosmic events.

Inaugurated in 2017, the Radio Frequency Interferometric Telescope for the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) aims to improve knowledge of dark energy and to detect extragalactic BRAs – brief flashes of bright light. radio waves that last a few milliseconds.

Astrophysical mysteries are thought to come from far away from our Milky Way, but their source remains uncertain.

Since their discovery more than ten years ago, more than 60 bursts, each named for its detection date, have been observed by five telescopes around the world.

Scientists announced the second-ever repeated radio burst in January – one of 13 gusts detected in three weeks last summer, while CHIME was still in its pre-commissioning phase, operating at a fraction of its total capacity.

Repeaters – like the eight found by Andersen & Co. – could be the key to understanding the origin and nature of ARBs.

A fast burst of radio leaves a distant galaxy and travels on Earth for billions of years, sometimes crossing a cloud of gas during its journey. Whenever a hot gas (or plasma) is encountered, the different wavelengths constituting a burst are slowed down differently.

Short (violet) radio waves, for example, arrive at the terrestrial telescope before long (red).

This is known as dispersion.

The amount of dispersion indicates how much material the bursts have gone through.

Up to now, repetitive and non-repetitive FRBs have no difference in dispersion. However, they show evidence of greater breaking width, suggesting different emission mechanisms in their sources.

Additional observations are needed before anyone can know for sure where these gusts (and who / what) are coming from.

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