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Posted on Oct. 29, 2018
Fast radio bursts (FRB) are one of the great mysteries of the cosmos. These are brief flashes of radio waves that last a few milliseconds. Every day, thousands of people appear in the sky, but only a dozen of them have already been seen. Their origins remain a mystery. Among the possibilities, there are cataclysmic events such as the evaporation of black holes and collisions between neutron stars.
The FTBs represent a new phenomenon very unusual and unexpected. The bursts come from other galaxies, which means that incredible amounts of energy are needed to produce them – some bursts contain more energy than what our Sun has been producing for decades. Second, AROs have the potential to be a new tool that we can use to understand the structure of matter in the universe.
The essential property of bursts that could turn them into a valuable tool is their dispersion: shorter radio waves (more blue) reach the telescope before the longer (more red).
Two Australian radio telescopes synchronized to observe the same point of the sky have discovered in more detail one of the most mysterious events of the Universe in the new research published today. Curtin University's Wideington Murch (MWA) telescopes and CSIRO's Australian ASKAP SKA Pathfinder telescopes (ASKAP) were exploring the skies for fast radios, which are exceptionally bright energy flashes from space. .
In a study published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, astronomers describe how ASKAP detected several extremely bright radio bursts, but the MWA – which analyzes the sky at lower frequencies – has seen nothing, even though it is was directed to the same area of the sky at the same time.
The lead author, Dr. Marcin Sokolowski, of the Curtin University node of the International Center for Research in Radioastronomy (ICRAR), stated that the fact that fast radio bursts have not been observed at frequencies lower was highly significant.
"When ASKAP sees these events extremely brilliant and the MWA does not do this, it tells us that something really unexpected is happening; either the sources of fast radio bursts do not emit at low frequencies, or the signals are stuck on their way to Earth, "said Sokolowski.
Dr. Ramesh Bhat, co-author of the study and also based at ICRAR-Curtin, said considerable coordination was needed for the ASKAP telescope led by CSIRO and the Curtin-led MWA telescope to point to the same area of the sky at the same time.
Both telescopes were able to capture the same view as they are located side by side in the remote wilderness of Murchison, Western Australia.
"Fast radio bursts are unpredictable, so it's not easy to capture them when both telescopes are looking in the same direction," Dr. Bhat said. "It took several months for ASKAP and the MWA to follow the same area of sky, ensuring the best possible overlap of their views, to give us the chance to get some of these enigmatic explosions. The challenge was to make everything happen automatically, but it really paid off. "
Dr. Jean-Pierre Macquart, astronomer of ICRAR-Curtin, also co-author of the research, said the fast bursts of radio had perplexed astronomers since the discovery of the first occurrence in 2007. "C & # "It's really exciting to have a clue about the origins of bursts of energy coming from outside our galaxy," Macquart said.
"The MWA adds an important piece of the puzzle that has only been made possible by this" technological tango "between the two telescopes. "This is an exciting development because it brings the two teams together and has the advantage of having both telescopes on the same site.
A 3D printed representation of FRB 121102 radio bursts detected with the Arecibo radio telescope at the top of the page shows the brightness of the burst according to the observed radio frequency and time. (Anne Archibald / University of Amsterdam)
The Daily Galaxy via the International Center for Research in Radioastronomy (ICRAR) and The Conversation https://theconversation.com/more-bright-fast-radio-bursts-revealed-but-where-do-they-all-come-from – 104488
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