Occasionally, astronomers observe intense bursts of radio waves from space that last only a moment but release as much energy in a millisecond as the Sun releases in a single millisecond. years. The origin of these “fast radio bursts” remains one of the greatest mysteries of modern astronomy. There are many theories about what causes these outbreaks. These include highly magnetic neutron stars, extremely dense stellar collisions, and many other extreme phenomena.

One way to test which theory is correct is to look for more information about explosions using gravitational waves – fluctuations in the structure of the Universe.

A new study published in the Astrophysical Journal compared dozens of observations of fast radio bursts with data from gravitational-wave telescopes to identify possible connections. Gravitational waves travel through matter and therefore nothing can stop them. Astronomers have previously detected gravitational waves from the collisions of small star systems such as black holes and neutron stars.

A new study published in the Astrophysical Journal compared dozens of observations of fast radio bursts with data from gravitational-wave telescopes to identify possible connections. Gravitational waves travel through matter and therefore nothing can stop them. Astronomers have previously detected gravitational waves from the collisions of small star systems such as black holes and neutron stars. To search for new evidence about the cause of fast radio bursts, a focused search was conducted using the CHIME radio telescope in Canada. Although the CHIME/FRB project has detected hundreds of fast radio pulses, it has not yet been able to detect a connection to gravitational waves.

The team searched for gravitational waves in the region of the sky where fast radio bursts occur. For non-repeating bursts, two types of searches were conducted: one looking for known gravitational wave signals and the other looking for any energetic bursts that deviated from the norm. Result? This time nothing was found. However, although the results are not clear this time, future research could provide an important step towards understanding fast radio bursts. Gravitational wave detectors are becoming more and more sensitive, and their efficiency will continue to increase in the coming years.

source: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/acd770