Magnetar Model Simulation Demonstrates How Mysterious Fast Radio Bursts Originate

Fast radio bursts belong to the most baffling cosmic materials. These bursts are powerful that occur for a short period of time. Each of the explosions is made of electromagnetic radiation in the form of radiation wavelengths. Discharge of energies recorded from fast radio bursts appear in milliseconds but are comparable to about 500 million suns.

Fast Radio Bursts, What Is It?

Experts have been searching for the true reason behind the occurrence of fast radio bursts throughout the decades of astronomical studies. These rare, brief outbursts are commonly detected from regions of space that are a million lightyears away from our planet.

In April 2020, scientists discovered the most indisputable evidence of fast radio bursts. According to an update from The Astronomer's Telegram, a bright and powerful outburst of radio waves was detected right inside the Milky Way neighborhood, specifically from a magnetar.

The findings suggest that the fast radio bursts are byproducts of dead, magnetized stars hovering across space. In a new study, experts developed a model to understand more about the various phases of these stellar bodies that lead to the appearance of powerful flashes.

The magnetar model shows what initially happens to the extremely magnetized stellar bodies during the radio outbursts. The authors utilized principles offered by the theory of quantum electrodynamics or QED.

Princeton University's Department of Astrophysical Sciences specialist and lead author of the study Kenan Qu explained in a Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) press release that their facility-based simulation serves as a small-scale model of the natural environment of a magnetar. Through the model, the team was able to analyze QED pair plasmas.

Magnetar Model Shows First Starting Point of Fast Radio Bursts

Magnetars are dead stars, also known as neutron stars, and are known to explode during the last few phases of their lifespan. These stars throw off their materials during the bursts while their nuclear fusion pressure collapses.

Magnetars contain magnetic fields that are a thousand times higher compared to the normal neutron stars and a quadrillion times higher than our planet's.

The fast radio bursts, according to scientists, originate directly from the tensions created when magnetic fields reach a destructive point and distort the magnetar's shape. On the other hand, the pair plasmas are the combination of natural plasma with matter and antimatter pairs containing an equal mass.

Qu said the simulation was applied with a strong laser instead of a powerful magnetic field. This converts the model's energy into pair plasma through the approach known as QED cascades. After this phase, the pair plasma will eventually push the laser pulse to a more intense frequency, Science Alert reports.

Stanford University SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and PULSE Institute specialist Sebastian Meuren, who co-authored the study, explained that through this method, their model was able to achieve the first few phases of the cascades behind the production of fast radio bursts.

The study was published in AIP Physics of Plasmas, titled "Collective plasma effects of electron-positron pairs in beam-driven QED cascades."

Check out more news and information on Physics in Science Times.