Cryptic radio signals reach Earth from dwarf galaxy 3 billion light years away

06/19/2023 / By Kevin Hughes

Scientists have discovered mysterious radio signals that have reached Earth from a faraway galaxy.

The radio signals, known as fast radio bursts (FRBs), are unusual beams of energy that last for only a millisecond, yet each pulse brings as much energy as the sun gives off in a century. These signals emerged from the edge of a dwarf galaxy located three billion light years from Earth. (Related: Scientists trace mysterious, short-lived radio bursts to a galaxy located 3.6 billion light years away from Earth.)

Some propose that these flashes could be messages from alien civilizations having technology far more advanced than mankind. Others believe the bursts emanated from extremely dense matter, such as black holes or neutron stars, that collided and subsequently exploded, sending fast radio bursts all across space. Another theory suggests that FRBs are a consequence of remote stars collapsing.

The mysterious FRB, named by scientists as FRB 20190520B, is unique in that it consistently produces signals detectable by telescopes every time it is observed, making it a “repeater” FRB. This reliability makes the burst popular for astronomists and physicists as an ideal target for additional studies.

Fast radio burst emitting magnetic fields

One team has dedicated an immense amount of resources to monitor the burst. This international team is using the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia and the Parkes Observatory radio telescope in New South Wales, Australia. The team’s collective examination was based on observational works covering three continents.

“A total of 113 bursts from FRB 20190520B were detected by the Parkes telescope, exceeding the sum of all fast radio bursts previously discovered at Parkes. This underscores the significance of FRB 20190520B,” said Dr. Dai Shi of Western Sydney University, the lead researcher of the international team.

The researchers, through a combined study of data from Parkes and the Green Bank Telescope, found magnetic fields twisted around the FRBs.

Dr. Feng Yi of Zhejiang Laboratory, China, and Anna Thomas of West Virginia University measured the polarization properties of these fields and discovered that the Faraday rotation measure changed its sign twice in striking fashion.

The Faraday rotation measure is a quantity that characterizes the amount of rotation of the plane of polarization of a radio wave as it travels through a magnetized plasma. It is affected by the strength and direction of the magnetic field, as well as the density of the plasma the signal passes through.

When the scientists said the Faraday rotation measure changed its sign twice, they are suggesting that the direction of the magnetic field along the path of the radio burst changed considerably on two occasions.

This could occur if the radio wave goes through regions of space with various magnetic field orientations.

“The RM [rotation measure] can be approximated by the integral product of the magnetic field and electron density. Variation in RM can be caused by either factor, but a sign change must be due to the reversal of magnetic fields, as the electron density cannot become negative,” said Dr. Li Di, the corresponding author of the research from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.

This reversal could be caused by propagation through a turbulent, magnetized screen plasma.

“The turbulent components of the magnetic field around repeating fast radio bursts may be as messy as a ball of wool,” said study co-author Yang Yuanpei, a professor at Yunnan University.

This turbulent scenario might happen when the signal goes through the halo of a companion, like a black hole or a large star with winds.

Understanding the breathtaking changes in the magnetized environment encircling the FRB is a significant step toward decoding the origin of these exceptional cosmic explosions.

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