A team of researchers has proposed a new theory to explain the origin of fast radio bursts (FRBs), short blasts of radio waves that have puzzled scientists for years. Using numerical simulations, they suggest that powerful shock waves, or “monster shocks,” in the atmospheres around highly magnetized neutron stars called magnetars could be responsible for these events.
The researchers found that magnetar atmospheres can host massive shock waves that produce gigahertz-frequency emissions consistent with FRB observations. These shock waves are triggered by disturbances on the surface of a magnetar, such as a starquake, which causes magnetic-field waves to travel through the charged particles in the magnetosphere.
As these waves are amplified, they reach highly relativistic speeds and emit bursts of radio waves that could be detected as an FRB by a distant observer. The team’s theory suggests that future observations may provide evidence for this mechanism by pinpointing the location of FRB emission within a magnetar’s environment.
Source: https://physics.aps.org/articles/v18/s13