Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are sudden and intense bursts of radio wave energy from deep space that remain one of the most intriguing mysteries in astrophysics. A new study now provides valuable insights into what might be producing them.

Led by a team from the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF), researchers FRB 20201124A, first discovered in 2020. In particular, they analyzed a persistent radio source (PRS) near the FRB.

These PRS signals were detected near a small number of FRBs and may be closely related to them. Here, measurements of the PRS showed that it most likely originated from a plasma bubble, which was the mysterious source of the FRB.

This plasma bubble is a so-called ionized nebula, a cloud of electrically charged (ionized) gas and dust.

“In particular, by radio observations of one of the eruptions closest to us, we were able to measure the weak, persistent emission emanating from the same location as the FRB“This extends the range of radio fluxes previously studied for these objects by two orders of magnitude,” says astrophysicist Gabriele Bruni of INAF.

The data collected included observations from the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope in New Mexico, which suggest that the nebula could be the result of a young magnetar (an ultra-dense, ultra-magnetic star) or a binary star system with a neutron star (remnant of a supernova) or a black hole.

Any of these celestial phenomena could be capable of generating large enough amounts of energy to trigger the FRB signals observed by the system, the team says. A surrounding nebula, the plasma bubble, which is thought to be responsible for the PRS’s background hum, could also be created.

There are still questions to be answered FRB 20201124A, but research is giving us a much better idea of ​​some pieces of the puzzle. It’s likely that other FRBs form in different ways, but at least in this case we’re getting closer to an explanation.

“First, the high-resolution data show that it is not spreading over a large region of the host galaxy, as one would expect from star formation,” says astrophysicist Brendan O’Connor of Carnegie Mellon University in the USA.

“And second, it allows you to constrain the actual size of the source. And based on the inferred size, it fits the overall picture of what you would expect from a magnetar nebula.”

Additional data was collected by the Northern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) and Gran Telescopio Canarias telescopes, allowing researchers to determine how much energy the system releases at each wavelength of light – a crucial factor in decoding the signals from over a billion light years away.

“There was new data at radio wavelengths that had better angular resolution than previous studies,” says O’Connor.

“Essentially, it’s like you’re looking at something in 1080p instead of 720p. And in this case, the higher resolution image allows us to better pinpoint what’s going on with that source.”

The study was published in Nature.