Neutron stars could cause FAST RADIO BURSTS
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The cause of intense flashes of radio emissions known as fast radio bursts (FRBs) could soon be revealed. A team of researchers, including some from the Breakthrough Listen project searching for signs of alien life, have recently found that radio signals from FRB 121102 probably passed through an intense magnetic field, such as those found around neutron stars.
FRB 121102 is unusual in that it has been seen bursting over 200 times, whereas all other FRBs have only burst once. This has allowed researchers to study the bursts and find that the emissions from FRB 121102 are not only highly polarised but that the polarisation is twisted, an effect usually caused by an exceptionally strong magnetic field. As neutron stars are known to have strong magnetic fields, the discovery lends weight to the idea that these objects create FRBs. How they do this, however, is still up for debate.
“With these observations we hope to distinguish between the two competing hypotheses of a neutron star either near a black hole or embedded in a powerful nebula,” points out Jason Hessels from the University of Amsterdam.
FRBs release as much energy in a millisecond as the Sun releases over the course of an entire day. Since they were first spotted in 2007 several possible causes for FRBs have been suggested, ranging from neutron stars to highly advanced alien civilisations.
“There are still many questions, such as how can a rotating neutron star produce the high amount of energy typical of an FRB? We can’t completely rule out the ET hypothesis for FRBs in general,” says Vishal Gajjar of Breakthrough Listen and the Berkeley SETI Research Center. See Comment, right