Tag Archives: burst

Stellar-Mass Black Hole Triggers Record-Breaking Cosmic Burst by Collapsing Companion Star

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Astronomers have utilized data gathered from a network of space and terrestrial telescopes to identify AT 2024wpp, the most radiant blue light transient (LFBOT) ever recorded. These uncommon, ephemeral, and exceedingly luminous outbursts have perplexed scientists for a decade, but the extraordinary brightness and comprehensive multiwavelength data from AT 2024wpp indicate that they cannot be attributed to typical stellar explosions such as supernovae. Instead, recent observations reveal that AT 2024wpp was generated by an extreme tidal disruption event, where a black hole, with a mass approximately 100 times that of the Sun, dismantles a massive companion star over the course of just a few days, converting a significant portion of the star’s mass into energy.

This composite image contains X-ray and optical data for the LFBOT event at 2024wpp. Image credits: NASA / CXC / University of California, Berkeley / Nayana others. / Legacy Survey / DECaLS / BASS / MzLS / SAO / P. Edmonds / N. Walk.

LFBOTs derive their name from their intense brightness, being visible from hundreds of millions to billions of light years away, and their ephemeral nature, lasting merely a few days.

They emit high-energy light across the blue spectrum into ultraviolet and X-rays.

The inaugural observation was made in 2014, but the first LFBOT with sufficient data for analysis was recorded in 2018, termed AT 2018cow, in accordance with standard naming conventions.

Researchers nicknamed it “cow”, alongside other LFBOTs dubbed “tongue-twisted koala” (ZTF18abvkwla), “Tasmanian devil” (AT 2022tsd), and “finch” (AT 2023fhn). AT 2024wpp is likely to be known as Wasp.

Researchers determined that AT 2024wpp was not a supernova after assessing the energy output of the phenomenon.

The energy was found to be 100 times greater than that produced by typical supernovae.

The emitted energy must convert roughly 10% of the Sun’s rest mass into energy over a brief period of weeks.

Specifically, observations from Gemini South disclosed excess near-infrared radiation emitted by a luminous source.

This marks the second instance astronomers have witnessed such an occurrence, with the first being AT 2018cow, which seemingly doesn’t occur in regular stellar explosions.

These observations establish near-infrared excess as a defining characteristic of FBOT, yet no model can adequately explain it.

“The energy released by these bursts is so immense that it cannot be accounted for by a nuclear collapse or any typical stellar explosion,” stated Nathalie LeBaron, a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley.

“The main takeaway from AT 2024wpp is that the model we initially proposed is incorrect. This is definitely not an ordinary exploding star.”

Scientists suggest that the intense high-energy light emitted during this extreme tidal disruption stems from the black hole binary system’s prolonged parasitic behavior.

As they piece together this history, it appears the black hole has been gradually siphoning material from its companion star, enveloping itself in a ring of material too distant to be consumed.

Subsequently, when the companion star ventured too near and was shredded, the new material became ensnared in a rotating accretion disk, colliding with pre-existing material and releasing X-rays, ultraviolet light, and blue radiation.

Much of the gas from the companion star ended up spiraling toward the black hole’s poles, where it was expelled as material jets.

Authors calculated that the jet was traveling at about 40% the speed of light and emitted radio waves upon interacting with surrounding gas.

Similar to most LFBOTs, AT 2024wpp is situated in a galaxy characterized by active star formation, making the presence of large stars likely.

Located 1.1 billion light years away, AT 2024wpp is 5 to 10 times more brilliant than AT 2018cow.

The companion star that was torn apart was estimated to be over 10 times the mass of the Sun.

“It may have been what is referred to as a Wolf-Rayet star, a very hot evolved star that has depleted much of its hydrogen,” remarked the astronomers.

“This would account for the weak hydrogen emission observed from AT 2024wpp.”

The findings are published in two papers: Astrophysics Journal Letter.

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Natalie LeBaron others. 2025. Brightest known fast blue light transient AT 2024wpp: unprecedented evolution and properties from ultraviolet to near-infrared. APJL in press. arXiv: 2509.00951

AJ Nayana others. 2025. Brightest known fast blue light transient AT 2024wpp: unprecedented evolution and properties in X-rays and radio. APJL in press. arXiv: 2509.00952

Source: www.sci.news

Bank of England Cautions About Heightened Risks of AI Bubble Burst

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The Bank of England has issued a warning regarding the growing risk of “sudden corrections” in global markets, raising alarms about the inflated valuations of significant AI technology firms.

Policymakers expressed that a loss of credibility by the Federal Reserve among global investors could result in a potential “sharp re-risk of US dollar assets,” especially as Donald Trump is continuously criticizing the US Central Bank and undermining its independence.

The persistent excitement and positivity surrounding AI technology have driven valuations higher in recent months, with companies like OpenAI valued at $500 million (£37.2 billion), a stark contrast to $157 billion last October. Another entity, Humanity, has nearly tripled in value from $600 billion in March to $170 billion last month.

Nevertheless, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (FPC) warned on Wednesday that: “The risk of sudden market corrections is on the rise.”

“Many indicators suggest that stock market valuations, particularly for tech firms focused on artificial intelligence, are escalating. This makes the stock market highly vulnerable should expectations regarding AI’s impact become overly pessimistic.”

Investors admitted that they have not fully considered these potential risks, cautioning that if any materialize, “a sudden correction could happen,” leading to financial strain for families and businesses alike. The FPC emphasized: “As an open economy with a pivotal financial center, the risk of a global shock affecting the UK financial system is significant.”

Confidence in the AI boom has been shaken recently by research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which revealed that 95% of organizations have gained no returns on their investments in generative AI.

This has sparked worries that stock market valuations may decline if investors become disillusioned with AI technology’s advancement or adoption. The FPC noted this could lead to a reassessment of current expected future revenues.

“The substantial bottlenecks to AI advancement, arising from issues related to power, data, or commodity supply chains, as well as conceptual breakthroughs that alter the necessary AI infrastructure for developing and utilizing powerful AI models, can negatively affect valuations, especially for companies reliant on high levels of AI infrastructure investment where expected revenues are projected.”

The committee further remarked that ongoing threats from the Trump administration towards the US Federal Reserve jeopardize financial stability.

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“In the US, there is ongoing discussion regarding the Federal Reserve’s independence. A sudden or significant shift in the perception of the Federal Reserve’s reliability could result in a rapid re-risking of US dollar assets, including the US sovereign debt market, leading to increased volatility, risk premiums, and global uncertainty.”

They noted that this concern would compound the effects of Trump’s trade war, which the FPC asserted has “not yet fully materialized.”

Source: www.theguardian.com

The Earliest High-Speed Radio Burst Illuminates Early Star Formation

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A magnetar, a type of neutron star, can be the source of fast radio bursts

Science Photo Library/Alamy

A peculiar burst of light from the early universe aids astronomers in mapping elusive gases found between galaxies, much like flashlights in dark spaces.

The Fast Radio Burst (FRB) is an extremely brief yet potent burst of radio frequency emissions that has puzzled astronomers since its discovery in 2007. Currently, we know of only a few thousand instances in the universe, leaving much still to be understood about them, especially as most originate from galaxies neighboring the Milky Way.

Now, Manisha Kaleb from the University of Sydney, Australia, along with her research team, has identified a remarkably distant FRB, tracing back to a galaxy that existed merely 3 billion years post-Big Bang.

Kaleb and her collaborators first detected a burst designated 20240304B using the South African Meerkat Radio Telescope in March 2024, corroborating their findings with observations from the James Webb Space Telescope. They determined that the burst originated from a small, faint galaxy that appeared relatively youthful, characterized by rapid star formation.

“This discovery is extraordinarily distant,” stated Jason Hessel from the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands. The FRB 20240304B is from an epoch in the universe’s timeline known as the ‘midday’ of the universe, a period when the rate of new star formation peaks. This hints that during the galaxy’s formative years, this FRB—and possibly others—may have stemmed from a young star that underwent a supernova and collapsed into a magnetar, according to Hessel.

A key reason astronomers focus on FRBs lies in their ability to shine a light on ionized gases and lost electrons from radiation emitted by stars, which constitute most of the universe’s matter. Understanding its distribution is crucial for unraveling how larger structures—such as stars and galaxies—form. However, like the FRB, this gas remains largely invisible unless illuminated by a light source.

“This luminous flash reveals all the ionized material between us and the origin of the flash, allowing us to map both the gas and the magnetic fields amidst the stars and galaxies,” Hessel added.

The discovery of FRB 20240304B implies that the universe’s first stars were actively ionizing their surroundings, which can help establish a timeline of when these stars first ignited, according to Anastasia Fialkov from Cambridge University. The insights gleaned will only enhance with the detection of even more distant FRBs.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Scientists puzzled by mysterious burst of intergalactic radio waves hitting Earth.

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It may be hard to miss, but unimaginably strong bursts of cosmic radiation happen possibly a thousand times every day. They are bright enough to overwhelm our radio telescopes from billions of light-years away.

However, fast radio bursts (FRBs) were not detected until 2007. Despite over a decade of investigation, they remain one of the most intriguing mysteries in astrophysics. Recent research offers new and promising clues about their origins, while also revealing why these space phenomena are so perplexing in the first place.

When FRBs were first discussed in seminars, the big question wasn’t “What astrophysical cause is causing this?” Instead, it was, “Isn’t this just a mechanical failure?”

FRBs last about 1 millisecond and spread out in frequency in a manner very similar to a blip from a pulsar. But the problem is, they don’t come from any known pulsars, they don’t repeat like pulsars, and they’re clearly much more powerful than any pulsar pulses we’ve seen before.

To make matters worse, for many years the only telescope that observed FRBs was the Parkes Observatory in Australia. The debate became even more heated when it turned out that some of the FRB-like bursts observed by Parkes did not come from astronomical sources.

These bursts, called “peritons,” were always suspected to be of terrestrial origin. But clever detective work by astronomers solved the case. Dr. Emily Petrov and her colleagues showed that Periton had a strong correlation with local lunchtime. In reality, radiation leaked from the observatory’s microwave when the door opened too early.

It was eventually revealed that the FRBs were indeed from far away in space. More radio telescopes were configured to record very short bursts of radio waves, and detection rates began to skyrocket.

Those bursts came from all over the sky, suggesting they didn’t originate in our galaxy. In the first decade after the discovery, theorists produced a huge number of papers explaining the possible origins of the bursts.

In 2012, repeated FRBs were discovered, ruling out origins requiring complete destruction, such as supernovae. It was soon discovered that there were many more repeated bursts, mostly occurring at irregular intervals.

As more outbursts are discovered, there is growing evidence that FRBs may be associated with extraordinarily powerful magnetars: neutron stars that rotate in extremely strong magnetic fields.

Recent evidence suggests that at least some FRBs originate from nearby spiral galaxies rather than elliptical galaxies.

Astronomers will need to continue collecting clues, looking for suggestive patterns in the data, and eagerly awaiting observational upgrades that will allow them to pinpoint the FRBs’ local environment.

Whatever the outcome, the fast radio burst is a great example of the fact that in science, when we look at the universe in new and different ways, we almost always discover something surprising that no one had ever thought to look for.

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Unprecedentedly fast radio burst detected in a galaxy group at extreme distance

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A fast radio burst phenomenon called FRB 20220610A flashed in an unlikely location: a collection of at least seven galaxies that existed when the universe was only 5 billion years old. Most fast radio bursts to date have been found in isolated galaxies.

This Hubble image shows the host galaxy of the extremely powerful fast radio burst FRB 20220610A. Image credit: NASA/ESA/STScI/Alexa Gordon, Northwestern University.

FRB 20220610A was first detected by the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope in Western Australia on June 10, 2022.

ESO's Very Large Telescope confirmed that the FRB came from a distant place. The Fed was four times more energetic than its closer counterpart.

“We needed Hubble's acuity and sensitivity to pinpoint the source of the FRB,” said Northwestern University astronomer Alexa Gordon.

“Without Hubble's images, it will remain a mystery whether this arose from a monolithic galaxy or some kind of interacting system.”

“It's these kinds of environments, these strange environments, that are driving us to a deeper understanding of the Fed's mysteries.”

Hubble's sharp images suggest that FRB 20220610A arose in an environment where up to seven galaxies could be on a potential path to a merger, which is also very significant.

“We're ultimately trying to answer the question: What causes this? What are their ancestry and their origin?” said Wen-Fai Fung, an astronomer at Northwestern University. Ta.

“Hubble observations provide an incredible view of the surprising types of environments that give rise to these mysterious events.”

Although hundreds of FRBs have been detected, their ancestry is unknown. One of the leading candidates is magnetars.

They have magnetic fields so strong that if a magnetar were to be located halfway between the Earth and the Moon, it would erase the magnetic stripes on everyone's credit cards around the world.

Even worse, if the astronaut traveled within a few hundred miles of the magnetar, they would effectively be dissolved, as every atom in their body would be destroyed.

Possible mechanisms include some kind of shocking starquake, or an explosion triggered when the magnetar's twisted magnetic field lines break and recombine.

A similar phenomenon occurs on the Sun, causing solar flares, but the magnetar's magnetic field is a trillion times more powerful than the Sun's magnetosphere.

This snap can cause a flash of the FRB or create a shock wave that incinerates the surrounding dust and heats the gas to create a plasma.

There can be several types of magnetars. In some cases, it could be an explosive object orbiting a black hole surrounded by a disk of matter.

Another option is a pair of orbiting neutron stars whose magnetospheres interact periodically to create cavities in which eruptions can occur.

Magnetars are estimated to be active for about 10,000 years before becoming permanent, and are expected to be discovered in areas where violent storms of star formation occur. However, this does not seem to be the case for all magnetars.

In the near future, the sensitivity of FRB experiments will improve and FRBs will be detected at unprecedented rates at these distances.

“We need to continue to find more of these FRBs in different types of environments, both near and far,” Dr. Gordon said.

Astronomers announced that findings in AAS243243rd Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.

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alexa gordon other. 2024. Revealing the environment of the most distant FRB with the Hubble Space Telescope. AAS243summary #3679

Source: www.sci.news

Unusual ‘Sad Trombone’ Effect Detected in Radio Burst from Space

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allen telescope array

Seth Szostak/SETI Institute

Short, powerful bursts of radio waves from space are becoming increasingly bizarre. Astronomers discovered 35 of these bursts from a single object with a pattern unlike anything seen before.

sophia sheikh Researchers at California's SETI Institute and colleagues observed the object, a fast radio burst (FRB) called FRB 20220912A, during 541 hours of observation with the Allen Telescope Array in California. In each of this burst from his Fed, they discovered a phenomenon called “sad trombone”…

Source: www.newscientist.com