Dense remnants of massive stars create powerful jets of gas and dust that travel hundreds of millions of miles per hour, study shows publish last week in nature.
When some massive stars die, their remains collapse into neutron stars. These remnants are the densest objects in the universe alongside black holes, and like their more mysterious cousins, neutron stars sometimes power jets that launch material into space. Neutron star jets are typically dimmer than jets from black holes, especially those from quasars (supermassive black holes active at the centers of galaxies), which makes them harder to observe.
Exactly how the jet gets power from these two objects is the question Ongoing Research Topics. But according to the new study, neutron star jets can travel at 70,836 miles per second (114,000 kilometers per second), slightly more than one-third of the speed of light, and 186,282 miles per second, the speed limit in nature.Fascinatingly, relativistic effects, e.g. time dilation and length shrinkagewhich begins to occur when the speed exceeds one-tenth the speed of light.
Scientists determined this through a weird phenomenon in neutron star binaries, systems in which a neutron star and a companion star orbit each other. James Miller Jones, an astrophysicist at Australia’s Curtin University and co-author of the study, said in a paper that neutron stars are “so dense that they can be pulled from the surface of a nearby companion star” substance”. Published by ICRAR. “The gas spirals down to the surface of the neutron star, where it becomes very, very hot and dense. Once enough material accumulates, fusion reactions begin to occur at the surface.”
Thermonuclear explosions on distant stars are equivalent to stepping on an accelerator in the universe. The explosion caused ejecta to be ejected into space.
To determine the speed of the neutron star’s jets, the team observed two neutron stars (4U 1728-34 and 4U 1636-536) at radio and wavelengths using the Australian Telescope Compact Array and at X-ray wavelengths using the International Gamma-ray Astrophysics Down to the observation laboratory.
Jets are usually steady flows, making it difficult to determine the velocity of the material. But when stars accumulate enough mass to explode on their surface, they emit bright X-rays. The jets, in turn, burst out, making it possible to measure their speed.
jet speed approaching Neutron star escape velocity; That is, the speed required for a bit of matter to escape the gravitational field of a star. So close, jets, but no cigars. This study will inform the researchers’ models of jet formation, and the team’s next steps may reveal how the speed of the jets changes depending on the size and rotation rate of the neutron star. It is no exaggeration to say that the future is bright for understanding some of the most extreme physical phenomena in the universe.
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