Astronomers Are Getting Closer To Unraveling The Mystery Of Rapid Radio Bursts

Fast radio bursts are a puzzling phenomenon that may now be better understood thanks to a key finding made by astronomers working on a Canadian research project.

The fast radio burst project of the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment identified 25 recurring fast radio bursts from deep space and 14 possible repeaters. With this finding, the variety of quick radio bursts is now doubled.

Although thousands of quick radio bursts have been found, only a small number of them have been shown to reoccur. These radio waves’ origins are still a mystery. They are thought to be the result of star explosions that originate from outside the Milky Way galaxy. According to a press release from the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, these many fast radio burst types differ from one another in addition to whether or not they repeat. These additional features include their frequency.

“It is exciting that CHIME/FRB saw multiple flashes from the same locations, as this allows for the detailed investigation of their nature,” said Adaeze Ibik, a researcher at the institute. We were able to focus in on three of these recurring sources, and we have already determined that two of them had likely linked galaxies.

The institute claims that identifying a bigger pool of fast radio bursts that repeat can aid in figuring out whether they have a comparable origin to those that do not repeat. Some quick radio bursts could repeat so infrequently that their repetition has gone undetected.

The number of rapid radio bursts seen in recent years has significantly increased thanks to the CHIME radio telescope and others like it. Although many of them only recur once a week, the study team has seen all of the known repeating bursts.

Dr. Ziggy Pleunis, a Dunlap postdoctoral scholar, stated in a statement that “we can now precisely calculate the probability that two or more bursts coming from similar locations are not just a coincidence.” These new tools were crucial for this investigation and will be helpful for similar studies in the future.

Astronomers Are Getting Closer To Unraveling The Mystery Of Rapid Radio Bursts

Fast radio bursts are a puzzling phenomenon that may now be better understood thanks to a key finding made by astronomers working on a Canadian research project.

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