Astronomers have observed for the first time the birth of a magnetar, a type of rapidly rotating neutron star that is extremely magnetic. This groundbreaking discovery confirms that these exotic objects can power some of the brightest stellar explosions ever seen.
The discovery also validates a theory first proposed by physicists at the University of California, Berkeley 16 years ago, and reveals a newly recognized feature of certain exploding stars: a distinctive “chirp” in their light that can only be explained using Einstein’s theory of general relativity.研究は雑誌に掲載されました nature.
超光度超新星は、宇宙で最も壮観な爆発の 1 つであり、通常の超新星よりも 10 倍以上明るく輝きます。 Ever since astronomers first saw them in the early 2000s, they have struggled to explain why these explosions remain so bright even after the iron core of a giant star has collapsed and its outer layer has been blown into space.
As they rotate, powerful magnetic fields accelerate the charged particles, which collide with the expanding debris from the supernova, injecting extra energy and keeping the explosion glowing for much longer than expected.マグネターはまた、謎の高速電波バーストを生成すると考えられています。
Joseph Farrar, a graduate student at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO), discovered the strongest evidence yet for this theory after studying a supernova discovered in 2024 known as SN 2024afav.今秋、ミラー博士研究員としてカリフォルニア大学バークレー校のケーセン氏の研究グループに加わる予定のファラー氏と同僚らは、超新星の光度曲線の異常な隆起が、爆発中にマグネターが形成された直接的な証拠を提供していると結論付けた。
