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- Scientists notice a FRB occurred shortly after a Gravitational Wave event
Every so often, a strange signal from outer space hits our detectors here on Earth.
Known as fast radio bursts (FRBs_, these signals are extremely short, just milliseconds in duration, and are detected only in radio wavelengths.Yet in those milliseconds, and in those wavelengths, they can discharge as much energy as 500 million Suns – and most of them have never been detected again.
What they are, and how they are generated, is something of a baffling mystery. But a new discovery could point to a previously unknown mechanism producing these powerful bursts of radiation.
On the 25th of April in 2019, the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) recorded a bright, non-repeating fast radio burst ( FRB).
Just 2.5 hours earlier, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) recorded a gravitational wave event, the collision as a binary neutron star reached the inevitable conclusion of its decaying orbit.
The FRB's location in the sky fell within the credible region of the gravitational wave event, and from a similar distance. The chance that the two events were unrelated, a team of astronomers led by Alexandra Moroianu of the University of Western Australia has determined, is extremely small.
I agree.Vanadium 50 said:I'm not impressed.
LIGO localizes well in time, but poorly in space.
CHIME alone sees hundreds of FRBs per year. World-wide, perhaps one every 12 hours. LIGO sees maybe 5 events/year, so we expect one or so to be within 2.4 hours. We see one within 2.5 hours.
This is just a ballpark estimate, but it shows that we need a more detailed analysis than "Golly, look at that." And that ignores the problems with a posteriori probabilities.
Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are brief, intense flashes of radio frequency emissions from distant galaxies. They typically last only a few milliseconds and can release as much energy in that short time as the Sun does in an entire day. The exact mechanisms behind these bursts are still not fully understood, leading to various theories ranging from neutron star collisions to exotic astrophysical phenomena.
Gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime caused by the acceleration of massive objects, such as merging black holes or neutron stars. Predicted by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, these waves were first directly observed in 2015 by the LIGO observatory. They carry information about their origins and the nature of gravity, providing a new way to observe the universe.
Recent studies have suggested a potential connection between FRBs and gravitational waves, particularly in the context of events like neutron star mergers. Some scientists hypothesize that the processes generating FRBs may also produce gravitational waves, indicating that these two phenomena could be linked through certain astrophysical events. However, this connection is still under investigation and remains a topic of active research.
Scientists are baffled by the link because the mechanisms that produce FRBs and gravitational waves are not well understood, and there are still many unanswered questions about their origins and characteristics. The unexpected correlations observed in some cases challenge existing astrophysical models and suggest that our understanding of these cosmic events is incomplete. This has led to a surge of interest and research in both fields.
The potential link between FRBs and gravitational waves could revolutionize our understanding of high-energy astrophysical events and the universe's evolution. It may lead to new observational strategies that combine radio and gravitational wave astronomy, allowing scientists to study the same events from different perspectives. This interdisciplinary approach could provide deeper insights into the nature of cosmic phenomena and the fundamental laws of physics.