Dead stars 'glitches' may indicate source of rapid radio bursts

In a significant discovery, scientists have detected strong "glitches" in a magnetar, which is a type of highly magnetic neutron star located close to the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. The star's spin speed seems to have increased dramatically as a result of these glitches.

The process that causes the neutron star, also referred to as a dead star, to slow down following these glitches, may help reveal the interior of the star. Gaining insight into the inner workings of magnetars may eventually explain how these unusual objects produce "Fast Radio Bursts," or FRBs.

The FRBs are evasive and transient pulsations of light that can get illuminated enough to briefly outshine the light of an entire galaxy.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Though scientists already know that these pulses exist, they have never been able to identify the reason behind their existence.

"The glitches are abrupt changes in the rotation of the star. Each brief observation allows us to measure the rotation speed of the magnetar and we noticed that suddenly the star was spinning faster than the previous observation," team member and assistant professor at Paul Sabatier University in France, Sebastien Guillot, was quoted as saying by Space.com. "Glitches are commonly observed for pulsars and magnetars, but these are two of the largest ever seen."

This magnetar rotates somewhat faster than three times per second normally, however, the first glitch caused the rotation speed to increase. Then, the second glitch happened around nine hours later which caused the speed to increase approximately 100 times greater than the first.

"During the interval between these two glitches, we observed a significant decrease in the neutron star's rotation speed, decelerating at a rate 100 times faster than its speed before the glitch, and approximately 1000 times faster than its long-term average," Space.com quoted Chin-Ping Hu, research lead and an associate professor at the National Changhua University of Education, as saying. "This slowdown occurred over a period longer than the duration of the glitches themselves."

(With inputs from agencies)