Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are very short and very strong radio signals that reach us from the depths of space. They pose a real mystery to scientists because it is not known what their source may be. Interestingly, the first such signal was discovered only in 2007. As researchers suggest, their potential sources may be black holes and neutron stars.
After detailed analysis, it turned out that the FRB 20220610A flare originated from inside a cluster consisting of seven galaxies. Researchers suggest that interactions between these giant structures may be important in causing these types of flares.
Previous analyzes have shown that the FRB did not come from the most widely accepted and suggested sources, so the likely new source type confuses astrophysicists.
As Dr. Alexa Gordon of Northwestern University says: “Without Hubble’s imaging, it would still remain a mystery whether this FRB comes from a single monolithic galaxy or some type of interacting system.” It’s these types of environments – the strange ones – that lead us to better understand the mystery of FRBs.
Initial imaging showed that the signal came from an “amorphous cosmic blob.” However, upon closer inspection, it turned out that the spot consists of as many as seven galaxies, which are very tightly packed – all of them could fit into our Milky Way.
Their very close position to each other means that they interact with each other in a certain way. If stars are formed in these galaxies at short intervals, scientists suggest, this may be one explanation for the formation of such strong FRBs.
– There are some signs of interaction between group members. In other words, they could be “trading materials” or on the way to merging. These groups of galaxies, called compact groups, are extremely rare environments in the universe and are the densest galaxy-scale structures we know, says astrophysicist Wen-fai Fong of Northwestern University.
He adds: “With a larger sample of distant FRBs, we can begin to study the evolution of FRBs and their parent properties, combining them with more nearby ones, and perhaps even begin to identify stranger populations,” Dong says.
As scientists say, with the development of increasingly modern telescopes comes better resolution of images and more detailed analyzes of the Universe. In the coming years, we should learn much more about these mysterious signals coming from the depths of space.
The research results were published on the scientific platform pre-print arXiv.
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2024-01-13 11:01:26
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