Guizhou: Through the study of observation data from China’s enormous radio telescope, located in the southwestern part of Guizhou Province, an international team of researchers has gathered evidence suggesting a binary-system origin for some fast radio bursts (FRBs). These findings, which contribute to unraveling one of the most puzzling phenomena in astrophysics today, were made by astronomers from the Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and have been documented in the journal Science.
According to Namibia Press Agency, the research team utilized China’s Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) to conduct their study. During a press conference at the FAST observation base, Wu Xuefeng, deputy director of the PMO, described FRBs as extremely bright and transient radio phenomena that release substantial energy within milliseconds. Since their discovery in 2007, various models, particularly involving neutron stars, have been proposed to explain FRBs, but direct observational evidence has been scarce.
The research team focused on the repeating FRB 20220529, situated 2.9 billion light-years away, leveraging FAST’s sensitivity to monitor it continuously since June 2022. A crucial parameter, the Faraday rotation measure (RM), was observed to understand the cosmic magnetic environment of these radio signals. An extraordinary event was detected in December 2023 when the RM surged dramatically, indicating a dense, magnetized plasma cloud affecting the signals.
This sudden change challenges existing theories of FRBs originating from isolated neutron stars and supports the possibility of a binary system origin. Duncan Lorimer, a professor at West Virginia University, praised the findings and highlighted the potential applications for understanding repeating fast radio bursts.
FAST’s capability to detect such phenomena, particularly from faint sources like FRB 20220529, underscores its significance in astrophysical research. The telescope’s construction in a natural karst depression, its vast reception area, and its status as the largest single-dish radio telescope have made it a leading facility for studying pulsars, FRBs, and the interstellar medium.
Sun Jinghai, deputy director of FAST Operations and Development Center, mentioned ongoing upgrades involving medium-aperture antennas to form a synthetic aperture array, enhancing FAST’s observational performance. This advancement aims to transform FAST into a “super cosmic probe.”
Shi Shengcai from CAS emphasized the scientific importance of this discovery for understanding FRBs. Plans for new telescopes in Delingha and the South Pole will complement FAST’s capabilities, offering multi-frequency band observations to further explore cosmic mysteries.