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A Galactic Fast Radio Burst Finally Reveals Its Origin
A Galactic Fast Radio Burst Finally Reveals Its Origin
Rachel Berkowitz
(); https://doi.org/10.1063/PT.6.1.20210115a
should make room temperature opera- difference between normal and cancer
tion possible. cells.” References
Portable terahertz sources offer prom- Water absorbs terahertz frequencies 1. K. Kawase, Opt. Express 11, 2549 (2003).
2. A. Khalatpour et al., Nat. Photonics (2020),
ising applications, including skin can- too strongly to do a full body scan, but
doi:10.1038/s41566-020-00707-5.
cer screening.6 To look for cancer now, surface penetration even up to a few mil- 3. J. Faist et al., Science 264, 553 (1994); R. Köhler,
doctors slice off and dye the affected limeters is possible. Terahertz imaging Nature 417, 156 (2002).
skin and scan it under a microscope. wouldn’t require the excision of skin, and 4. L. Bosco et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 115, 010601
“My mother was a pathologist,” says it’s sensitive to the increased blood sup- (2019).
5. A. Albo, Q. Hu, J. L. Reno, Appl. Phys. Lett.
Hu. “I used to peek through her micro- ply and water content indicative of can- 109, 081102 (2016).
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identify cancer cells. I couldn’t tell the Heather M. Hill Bioelectron. 82, 64 (2016).
a b
HIGH
reported FRB 200428, FAST saw, from pre-
cisely the same location, another, weaker
radio burst typical of a magnetar.
800 The observation of gamma-ray and
x-ray emissions concurrently with an FRB
allowed astronomers to make the first
BRIGHTNESS
FREQUENCY (MHz)
LOW
400
−15 0 15 30 45 −15 0 15 30 45
Mulling magnetars
The discovery of FRB 200428 implies that
TIME + 28 APRIL 2020 14:34:33.04672 UTC (ms)
active magnetars can produce FRBs that
FIGURE 2. THE FAST RADIO BURST FROM SGR 1935+2154 was detected on are bright enough to be detectable at
28 April 2020 by (a) the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) extragalactic distances. Although the ob-
and (b) the Algonquin Radio Observatory. The ARO hosts a stationary 10-meter single- served signal, when scaled for distance,
dish telescope that also observes the sky over the main CHIME antenna. The top was weaker than other extragalactic FRBs
panels show the total intensity of the milliseconds-duration burst, and the bottom
by a factor, the researchers estimated that
plots show the intensity of the burst as a function of frequency. (Adapted from ref. 1.)
if the signal had come from the location
of other known FRBs, it would nonethe-
those of local, galactic ones by orders of signed explicitly to find an FRB in the less be detectable. Figure 3 shows how
magnitude. Milky Way, which was expected to be the FRB’s energy and duration compare
On 27 April 2020, the Burst Alert Tel- rare but incredibly bright.2 Bochenek with radio emissions from other known
escope aboard NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift confirmed that the signal was consistent astronomical objects. Those comparisons
Observatory detected multiple bursts of with the one reported by CHIME. It was led the CHIME, STARE2, and FAST re-
gamma rays and x rays coming from the three orders of magnitude brighter than searchers to conclude that magnetars like
magnetar SGR (soft gamma repeater) any observed radio pulse from known SGR 1935+2154 could indeed be a domi-
1935+2154, which indicated heightened galactic magnetars. nant source of FRBs.
activity. The Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Tel- Because of the Swift telescope’s gamma- How, exactly, a magnetar produces
escope also reported multiple gamma-ray ray alert, several space telescopes had FRBs is still up for debate. One proposed
bursts from the same object. been keeping a close eye on the same lo- mechanism for the link is that a star-
By the next day, that region of the sky cation. Four of them reported an x-ray quake causes a magnetar to generate
came into view of ground-based tele- burst that simultaneously occurred with short-lived flares of electrons and other
scopes in the Western Hemisphere. The the radio bursts. charged particles that collide with those
Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping The Five-Hundred-Meter Aperture emitted during previous flares, thus cre-
Experiment (CHIME) radio telescope in Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) in ating a shock front and huge magnetic
Penticton, British Columbia, detected an China had also been observing SGR fields.4 Electrons swirling around the
FRB coming from the direction of the sig- 1935+2154 in the preceding weeks, but magnetic field lines emit bursts of radio
nal. CHIME researchers posted a notice the narrow-field telescope was not pointed waves, and the heated electrons emit
to the astronomy community reporting toward the magnetar when CHIME and x rays. Another possibility is that the star-
the detection of an FRB, dubbed FRB STARE2 reported their new finding. quake triggers disturbances in magnetic
200428, and included the data shown in FAST did, however, report a lack of FRB- field lines near the magnetar’s surface.
figure 2a. The signal was well outside like events alongside 29 other x-ray bursts Those disturbances induce relativistic
CHIME’s field of view and was only de- from SGR 1935+2154 in the days before particles to stream from the magneto-
tected because of its extreme brightness.1 FRB 200428 was announced.3 sphere and generate radio emissions.5
Christopher Bochenek, a graduate stu- Bing Zhang of the University of Ne- Bochenek says, “We knew the source
dent at Caltech, saw CHIME’s notice when vada, Las Vegas, explains, “The nondetec- would need to be a compact object and
he began his daily inspection of data col- tion is significant because it indicates that have strong magnetic fields and that
lected by the radio telescopes that make an FRB’s association with a gamma-ray magnetars and neutron stars can create
up the university’s Survey for Transient repeater is unique and rare.” That rarity coherent radio emissions. But it’s not like
Astronomical Radio Emission 2 (STARE2). could be because specific physical condi- anyone expected magnetars to make
“I saw the same burst in the STARE2 tions required for FRB emission are diffi- such bright radio emission before the
data, and I was so surprised I froze for a cult to satisfy or because FRBs have nar- discovery of FRBs.” Further study could
bit!” he says. The three STARE2 tele- row beams that seldom point toward help astronomers home in on the specific
scopes, in Utah and California, were de- Earth. Two days after CHIME and STARE2 mechanisms and circumstances that drive
16 PHYSICS TODAY | JANUARY 2021
Active
35 galactic
els are no longer competitive.” Still, there
FRBs
nucei FIGURE 3. ASTRONOMICAL
OBJECTS PRODUCE RADIO are likely multiple ways that repeating
LOG LUMINOSITY (erg s−1 Hz−1)
binary systems,
2
radio burst (FRB) and share getic bursts are, and whether similar
10 3
Milky Way
15 some common features with pulses can be used to identify specific ob-
Rotating radio Stars
transients giant radio pulses (GRPs) jects in other galaxies. West Virginia Uni-
emitted by pulsars. (Adapted versity’s Duncan Lorimer, who reported
K
6
10 2
10 1
10 8
10 0