在浩瀚无垠的宇宙中，存在着一种神秘的天文现象——快速射电暴。这些短暂而强烈的射电脉冲，如同宇宙的短暂呼吸，每一次出现都似乎在诉说着宇宙的秘密。

近期，天文学家宣布已追踪到了迄今为止探测到的最强大、最遥远的快速射电暴（FRB 20220610A），这一意外发现将有助于进一步探索快速射电暴的成因、揭示宇宙的起源、结构乃至最终命运。下面和ETTBL君一起来看看详细报道吧～

Nearly 1,000 fast radio bursts have been detected since their initial discovery about two decades ago, but astronomers remain unclear on what causes the bursts.

 自20多年前首次发现以来，天文学家们检测到了将近1000个快速射电暴。但目前其成因尚不清楚。

But many agree that compact objects, such as black holes or neutron stars, the dense remnants of exploded stars, are likely involved. Magnetars, or highly magnetized stars, may be the root cause of fast radio bursts, according to recent research.

 有些天文学家认为致密天体可能是快速射电暴的成因之一，如黑洞或中子星（恒星爆炸的高密度残余物）。相关研究也表明磁星（磁场较强的恒星）可能是快速射电暴的起源。

 Understanding where fast radio bursts originate from could help astronomers determine more about the underlying cause that sends them streaming across the universe.

 了解快速射电暴的起源有助于天文学家进一步判断它们在宇宙中传播的根本原因。

“Despite hundreds of FRB events discovered to date, only a fraction of those have been pinpointed to their host galaxies,” said study coauthor Yuxin Vic Dong in a statement. “Within that small fraction, only a few came from a dense galactic environment, but none have ever been seen in such a compact group. So, its birthplace is truly rare.” Dong is a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow and doctoral student of astronomy in Fong’s lab at Northwestern.

 “尽管目前已发现几百个快速射电暴，但只有一小部分确定了其宿主星系，”该研究的合著者董玉新在一份声明中说道，“其中，只有少数来自密度较高的星系环境，但从未在致密星系群中出现过。所以，快速射电暴的成因确实非常罕见。”董玉新是美国国家科学基金会的研究生研究员，也是西北大学方文辉（西北大学物理学和天文学副教授）实验室的天文学博士生。

 More insights about fast radio bursts could also lead to revelations about the nature of the universe. As the bursts travel through space for billions of years, they interact with cosmic material.

 关于快速射电暴的见解越多，越可以揭示宇宙的本质。在快速射电暴穿越数十亿光年的过程中，它们会与宇宙物质发生相互作用。

 “Radio waves, in particular, are sensitive to any intervening material along the line of sight — from the FRB location to us,” Fong said. “That means the waves have to travel through any cloud of material around the FRB site, through its host galaxy, across the universe and finally through the Milky Way. From a time delay in the FRB signal itself, we can measure the sum of all of these contributions.”

 “尤其是无线电波，它对从快速射电暴所在地到我们视线范围内沿线的任何干扰物质都很敏感，”方文辉说，“这说明无线电波必须穿过快速射电暴周围的任何物质云，从宿主星系，到宇宙，最后再穿过银河系。通过快速射电暴信号本身的时间延迟，我们可以测量所有贡献的总和。”

 Astronomers are anticipating increasingly sensitive methods of detecting fast radio bursts in the future that could lead to discovering more of them at greater distances, Gordon said.

 西北大学温伯格艺术与科学学院天文学博士生Alexa Gordon坦言，天文学家们预计未来将会有愈加灵敏的快速射电暴监测方法，从而能发现更远距离的快速射电暴。

 “We are ultimately trying to answer the questions: What causes them? What are their progenitors and what are their origins? The Hubble observations provide a spectacular view of the surprising types of environments that give rise to these mysterious events,” Fong said.

 “我们最终还是在尝试回答这些问题：它们的成因是什么？起源又是什么？哈勃观测提供了一个绝佳视角，让我们可以看到产生这些神秘事件的惊人的环境类型，”方文辉说。

译：ETTBL君

材料来源：CNN

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