Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, September 22, according to the official website of the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the scientific research team of China Sky Eye FAST Rapid Radio Storm priority and Major Project used FAST operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to carry out depth observation of FRB 20201124A, and the largest polarization observation sample of rapid radio storm has been obtained. For the first time, the change of magnetic field in the surrounding environment which is only one astronomical unit from the center of the fast radio storm (that is, the distance from the sun to the earth) is detected for the first time, which is a key step to determine the engine mechanism of the center of the fast radio storm. The results were published in the international academic journal Nature on September 21, Beijing time.

Fast radio bursts (fast radio burst,FRB) are occasional radio bursts in the universe. In a few milliseconds, the energy released by them in the radio band is equivalent to the sum of tens of billions of years of current total power generation in the world, but the physical origin of rapid radio storms is still unclear and its central mechanism is still unknown. Fast radio bursts were first reported in 2007, and hundreds have been found so far.

The team used FAST to monitor FRB20201124A outside the Milky way for a long time, and detected 1863 burst pulses from this fast radio storm over a total of 82 hours over 54 days, making it one of the most active repetitive storms. Based on the largest polarization observation sample of fast radio storms to date, the research team has made a number of important findings, all of which are the first in the world. The team "filmed" the dynamic evolution of the FRB Faraday rotation (which can help measure the intensity of the magnetic field in the environment) and discovered for the first time the strange evolution behavior of the Faraday rotation, that is, an irregular short-term evolution of the Faraday rotation in the first 36 days, but almost unchanged in the next 18 days. The quenching phenomenon of FRB was discovered for the first time, that is, FRB 20201124A changed from maintaining a high event rate to suddenly extinguishing within 72 hours; a high circular polarization pulse significantly different from all previous FRB was detected in FRB for the first time, with a maximum value of 75%; frequency-dependent polarization oscillation was found for the first time. All these phenomena show that the environment of one astronomical unit around this FRB is very complex and dynamic. Through polarization oscillations, the team imposed a direct limit on the magnetic field of the environment around 1 astronomical unit of the FRB, above the Gaussian order of magnitude. Through international cooperation, the team used the American 10m Keyker Optical Telescope (Keck) to make in-depth observations of the host galaxy of the FRB. It was found that the host galaxy was a metal-rich rod spiral galaxy about the size of the Milky way, and that the star density in the region where the FRB was located was low, between the spiral arms and at a medium distance from the center of the galaxy. It is suggested that the FRB does not originate from superbright supernovae caused by extreme explosions of massive stars or young magnetars formed after gamma ray bursts.

At present, China Sky Eye FAST Rapid Radio Storm priority and nearly 100 scientific research teams of major projects are working closely together, looking forward to finding direct observation evidence that determines the core physical process and energy mechanism of rapid radio storms, guiding international multi-band joint observations and revealing the physical origin of rapid radio storms at an early date.

CTOnews.com learned that the Chinese Sky Eye, or 500m aperture spherical radio telescope (Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope,FAST), is located in Qiannan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province, China, and is a major scientific and technological infrastructure construction project of China's Eleventh five-year Plan. The construction of the 500-meter aperture spherical radio telescope began on March 25, 2011, and the launch ceremony was held on September 25, 2016. The scientific and technological infrastructure was put into trial operation and commissioning, and passed China's national acceptance work on January 11, 2020. Officially open to operation.

The 500-meter aperture spherical radio telescope has created a new mode of building giant telescopes, building radio telescopes with reflectors equivalent to 30 football fields, with a sensitivity of more than 2.5 times that of the second largest telescope in the world, and greatly expanding the field of vision of human beings. used to explore the origin and evolution of the universe.

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