One likely source of FRBs are magnetars, which are just absurd objects. We wrote about them in Orbital Index a little while ago (https://orbitalindex.com/archive/2023-03-15-Issue-210/#magne...):
These highly magnetized neutron stars—objects only ~20 km in diameter—have magnetic fields that may reach up to 1015 Gauss, a quadrillion (thousand trillion) times our Sun’s pitiful 1 Gauss. The energy density of just these magnetic fields (via E=mc2) is 10,000x the mass density of lead. Magnetars are a likely source of Fast Radio Bursts and can also emit giant gamma-ray flares—one flare, GRB 200415A, was seen to emit the same amount of energy as our Sun does over 100,000 years, but in only 0.016 s. We don’t really know how these flares form, but if they involve large mass motions, they could also produce gravitational waves, something LIGO and other gravitational wave observatories are watching for. Near a magnetar, “X-ray photons readily split in two or merge. The vacuum itself is polarized, becoming strongly birefringent, like a calcite crystal. Atoms are deformed into long cylinders thinner than the quantum-relativistic de Broglie wavelength of an electron (pdf),” resulting in a breakdown of anything resembling what we think of as chemistry. It’s believed that their magnetic fields decay relatively quickly over about 10,000 years, so magnetars are a transient state. We know of about 30 magnetars so far. Oh, and they may also have volcanoes (sort of).
> magnetars, which are just absurd objects.
"I sometimes think the universe is a machine, designed for the perpetual astonishment of astronomers" -Sir Arthur C Clarke (1980)
This is fascinating. For a lay person, what is a good book to understand this? Or blog?
Edit: found this below to start
If these last only milliseconds, one must be really lucky to catch them, with the radio telescope pointing at the right direction at the right moment. Does that mean we miss the vast majority of FRBs, because we're not looking everywhere at once?
Not a series of prime numbers?
I wanted it to be "We've been observing your earth, and one night we'll make a contact with you." Like in that 1976 song by the Carpenters...
That is hilarious. Now I need to add Klaatu to my playlist. I love discovering filk music.
Really interesting topic, not so great article.
Much better off reading the wilipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_radio_burst#FRB_220610
In addition to the short summary of that specific event, it has a much more detailed treatment of the subject overall.
Spot on! Given the domain name, I was expecting to see something more serious. The ads are an instant turnoff, never mind the content.
https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2317/ is another decent writeup
>It turns out that visible matter — like stars, planets, and galaxies — makes up only about 5% of the universe’s total mass-energy content.
It always blows my mind how little we actually know. Everything we can observe and that science can describe is just a small fraction of what is actually out there. Since we don't know what dark matter is maybe its possible that it is all around us, here on Earth. I find that slightly disturbing for some reason.
I totally agree.
And the extent to which we're really ignorant, is generally not ackcowledged in the way things are generally described.
For instance, in this article as is typical, the discrepancy between what current theory predicts, and what is currently observed, is described as the universe being "missing" something 8-)
It's not that our theories are incorrect, it's that the universe is "missing" this thing that we predict should be there 8-)
Maybe eventually the universe will correct it's error and meet human expectations 8-)
I don't know anything about this at all. But I often think about it! I read something once that led me to believe there is no dark matter here on Earth. But I know nothing about this so don't take my word for it. My question has been, if the universe is expanding, am I expanding? Is Earth expanding? Surely it would have to be, (?!) because I keep getting told that the universe isn't expanding into anything but rather, space itself is expanding. Well, I am part of space itself, so am I expanding? Ever so slightly?
I think I read that no, in fact, I am not expanding. The space that I occupy is also not expanding. In fact, no space anywhere near us is expanding. The expansion (we think?!) happens due to dark matter (?) which is not evenly distrubuted and which we can kind of measure (?) and we can know that there isn't any here (?)
Maybe someone who knows more about this can fill in the question marks or otherwise correct me.
>if the universe is expanding, am I expanding? Is Earth expanding?
No. I've heard experts say so explicitly. The exception is that if the expansion continues to accelerate, then billions of years from now first planets, then people will be ripped apart.
Also the expansion is due to dark energy which is quite different from dark matter. dark energy is everywhere but (for now) it is weak enough that, e.g., gravity can easily hold the planet together.