Recent research has proposed that fast radio bursts (FRBs), intense radio wave signals from the cosmos, may originate from asteroids colliding with neutron stars. This hypothesis, led by a team including Dang Pham from the University of Toronto, provides significant insight into these enigmatic phenomena first discovered in 2007.
FRBs are brief pulses of radio waves lasting milliseconds, during which they can emit energy equivalent to the sun's output over several days. Estimates suggest as many as 10,000 FRBs occur daily across the universe, yet their origins have remained largely unknown.
The study suggests that the collision of interstellar objects, such as asteroids or comets, with neutron stars could be the source of these bursts. Neutron stars are extremely dense remnants formed from the explosive deaths of massive stars, with a teaspoon of their material weighing around 10 million tons on Earth.
Researchers calculated that such a collision could release up to 10 29 27
While this research sheds light on single-occurrence FRBs, it does not fully explain repeating FRBs, which can occur multiple times, sometimes at rates of two bursts per hour. These may involve neutron stars interacting with asteroid belts or debris fields.
Advancements in radio telescopes, particularly the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME), have led to a surge in FRB detections since 2017. Future initiatives, including the Canadian Hydrogen Observatory and Radio-transient Detector (CHORD) and the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), aim to deepen understanding of FRBs and their cosmic origins.