Delivery time2024-01-19 04:00
International research team “Captures globular star clues 40,000 light years away… Possibility of radio pulsar-black hole binary system”
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Joo-young = A mysterious celestial body was discovered in the globular cluster (NGC 1851) in the Milky Way, 40,000 light years away, heavier than the heaviest neutron star known to date and lighter than the lightest black hole.
Imagining a radio pulsar and its companion black hole
The brightest star in the upper center is a radio pulsar (PSR J0514-4002E), and the orange object below is a black hole, a companion object that orbits each other once every 7 days, 8 million km away from the radio pulsar. [Daniëlle Futselaar(artsource.nl) 제공. 재판매 및 DB 금지]
An international research team, including the University of Manchester in the UK and the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany, reported in the scientific journal Science on the 19th that a rapidly rotating millisecond pulsar orbiting each other in NGC 1851 was discovered using the MeerKAT telescope of the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory. It was announced that an unknown celestial body with a mass of 2.09 to 2.71 times the mass of the sun was discovered.
The research team said that theoretically, this celestial body is larger than the largest neutron star and smaller than the smallest black hole. It may be the first discovery of a ‘radio pulsar-black hole’ binary star system that can test Einstein’s general relativity theory anew and open the door to black hole research. explained.
Professor Ben Staffers of the University of Manchester said, “If the radio pulsar is paired with a black hole, it could be an important test of gravity theory, and if it is a neutron star, it could provide new insights into ultra-high density nuclear physics.”
The research team discovered this binary star system while observing the globular cluster NGC 1851 in the constellation Columba, located 40,000 light-years away in the southern hemisphere, using the Meerkat telescope.
A globular cluster is a collection of stars denser than other regions in the galaxy, and the dense stars interact with each other, interfering with each other’s orbits and sometimes colliding.
South African high-sensitivity radio telescope ‘MeerKAT’
MeerKAT, a highly sensitive radio telescope located in the Karu semi-desert of South Africa. [SARAO 제공. 재판매 및 DB 금지]
The research team detected faint pulses from one of the binary stars and confirmed that the object was a radio pulsar (PSR J0514-4002E), a type of neutron star that rotates more than 170 times per second and emits radio waves.
In addition, it was estimated that two neutron stars are colliding to form one large celestial body, which is 8 million km away from this electron pulsar and orbits each other once every 7 days.
Neutron stars, which are the ultra-dense remnants left behind after a star dies, usually collapse when their mass increases too much by absorbing or colliding with other stars. There are many speculations about what happens to a neutron star after it collapses, but if gravity is strong, it may become a black hole.
Astronomers believe that for a neutron star to collapse, its mass must be at least 2.2 times that of the sun. However, the smallest black hole confirmed by observation is much larger than this, and black holes smaller than 5 times the mass of the sun are rarely found.
The newly discovered companion object of the radio pulsar was analyzed to have a mass of 2.09 to 2.71 times that of the Sun. It is larger than the largest neutron star and smaller than the smallest black hole, so it cannot be classified as anything.
The research team said, “The characteristics of celestial bodies with a mass between 2.2 and 5 times the mass of the Sun are unknown, and detailed studies have been difficult so far,” adding that the discovered celestial body could be of great help in research on this subject.
He continued, “We do not know whether this celestial body is the largest neutron star, the smallest black hole, or a new, strange variant star,” adding, “If we find out its identity, it will be a turning point that will improve our understanding of neutron stars, black holes, and celestial bodies of mass in between.” “It will happen,” he added.
◆ 출처 : Science, , ‘A pulsar in a binary with a compact object in the mass gap between neutron stars and black holes’,
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2024/01/19 04:00 Sent
