Most Distant Fast Radio Burst Ever Detected is Traced to The Far End of The Universe

Saturday - October 21 2023, 10:14 UTC - 1 year ago

Astronomers have detected the most remote fast radio burst, lasting mere milliseconds, which was traced back 8 billion light-years away from Earth. One of the most energetic ever recorded, it emitted an amount of energy equivalent to our Sun's total emission over 30 years. The burst was found to be part of a small group of merging galaxies and confirms the Macquart relation which proposes the relation between distance and scattering of BRFs. The cause of these FRB's emission remains a topic of active research and discussion, with a recent study proposing starquakes on neutron stars as the cause.

Brief and rapid bursts of radio waves arrive on Earth from distant galaxies, emitting in a single millisecond the same amount of energy as the Sun produces over the course of several weeks. Now, astronomers have detected the most remote fast radio burst (FRB) ever observed despite its incredibly brief signal — lasting less than a millisecond — the ASKAP radio telescope in Australia managed to record this FRB as it passed through Earth .

Light took eight billion years to reach Earth. The Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) was successful in determining the origin of this distant FRB (named FRB 20220610A). It was traced back to a galaxy so far away that its light had traveled for eight billion years to reach us. This FRB also stands out as one of the most energetic ever recorded. In a mere fraction of a second, it discharged an amount of energy equivalent to our Sun's total emission over 30 years .

"Using ASKAP’s array of dishes, we were able to determine precisely where the burst came from. Then we used [ESO’s VLT] in Chile to search for the source galaxy, finding it to be older and further away than any other FRB source found to date and likely within a small group of merging galaxies," said Stuart Ryder, an astronomer from Macquarie University in Australia and the co-lead author of the study, in an official release .

The researchers behind the study highlight that distant FRBs offer the potential to gauge the hidden matter existing between galaxies, presenting a fresh approach to “weigh” the Universe. This hypothesis was demonstrated by the late Australian astronomer Jean-Pierre ('J-P') Macquart in 2020. "J-P showed that the further away a fast radio burst is, the more diffuse gas it reveals between the galaxies .

This is now known as the Macquart relation. Some recent fast radio bursts appeared to break this relationship. Our measurements confirm the Macquart relation holds out to beyond half the known Universe," explained Ryder. The scientists speculate that the missing matter may be hiding in intergalactic space. Still, it may be in such a dispersed and heated form that traditional observation techniques cannot detect it .

However, the fast radio bursts may be able to “sense” the ionized material. "Even in space that is nearly perfectly empty they can ‘see’ all the electrons, and that allows us to measure how much stuff is between the galaxies," said Ryan Shannon, a professor at the Swinburne University of Technology in Australia. This new study confirms that fast radio bursts are prevalent occurrences in the Universe .

While scientists remain uncertain about the precise origins of these rapid bursts, the cause of their emission continues to be a topic of active scientific research and discussion. A recent study published in October proposed that fast radio bursts (FRBs) might be initiated by “starquakes” on the surface of neutron stars, which are remains of colossal stars. The upcoming advanced astronomical facilities, including the Square Kilometre Array Observatory and the Extremely Large Telescope, will help to uncover more secrets about these enigmatic radio wave bursts .