Astronomers have achieved a key breakthrough in the ongoing mystery of fast radio bursts-intense, millisecond-long pulses of radio waves from distant galaxies. Utilizing data from the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) in China, an international team has detected a clear signal indicating a star in orbit around a source of these enigmatic bursts, offering new clues too their origins. The findings, published in Science, suggest a connection between FRBs and magnetars within binary star systems, possibly solving a long-standing puzzle in astrophysics.
An international research team has made a significant breakthrough in understanding fast radio bursts (FRBs), enigmatic phenomena that have puzzled astronomers for years. Utilizing the FAST radiotelescope – currently the world’s largest, with a 500-meter diameter – researchers detected a distinct signal indicating a star orbiting the source of an FRB.
The groundbreaking observations spanned nearly 20 months, focusing on a repeating FRB located 2.5 billion light-years from Earth. The findings were published in the prestigious scientific journal “Science.” Prolonged monitoring revealed unique changes in the polarization of the radio waves, known as a “RM burst.”
The registered phenomenon – a sudden and intense increase in the radio polarization rotation rate (RM) – is interpreted as evidence of plasma ejected by a star accompanying the FRB source. Scientists explain this process may be similar to coronal mass ejections observed on our Sun. Fast radio bursts are a key area of study as researchers attempt to understand the origins of these powerful cosmic events.
“This discovery provides a clear indication of the origin of at least some repeating fast radio bursts,” said Professor Bing Zhang of the University of Hong Kong. He added that the latest data points to a binary system consisting of a magnetar and a Sun-like star.
An intensive observational campaign of FRB 220529A revealed an unusual RM change in late 2023. Dr. Ye Li from the Purple Mountain Observatory reported that the polarization rotation increased more than a hundredfold, then rapidly decreased over two weeks.
According to Professor Yuanpei Yang of Yunnan University, such a sudden increase in RM can be explained by the passage of dense, strongly magnetized plasma. All indications suggest that the plasma originated from a companion star. These results support a recently proposed model suggesting that all FRBs are the result of activity from magnetars in binary systems.
