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hotshot could be sliced in half by " relativistic blades , " or ultra - hefty outpouring of plasma forge by extremely firm magnetic fields , a wild raw subject hint . And these star - splitting brand could explain some of the bright explosions in the universe .
The study authors , based at the Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics at New York University , outlined their results in a paper published in September to the preprint databasearXiv . The report has not yet been peer - reviewed .
Ultracompact objects with strong magnetic fields are known as magnetars. New research suggests they could be sliced in half by ultrapowerful plasma blades, and that this could be the source of some of the brightest explosions in the universe.
The researchers were hunting for the origins of certain types of Vasco da Gamma - ray bursts ( GRBs).GRBs are some of the most knock-down explosionsin the sky , but they typically occur so far away we can only see them as a brief but intense pip of excessgamma - rayradiation . Only a handful of know physical object can generate the energies require to power a GRB , and so most astrophysicists assume that eitherblack holesor magnetars are involved — likely when they are engaged in something trigger-happy like rip a star apart . However , astronomers have struggled to explain why some GRBs pass off aside very slowly .
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In the new study , the authors suggest that these lingering GRBs may come about when some massive stars die . The core of the sensation collapses , form a neutron lead , which is a city - sized ball of extremist - dense neutrons , circumvent by the heavy layer of atomic number 1 and atomic number 2 . That neutron star can acquire an passing strong magnetic athletic field through rapid compression and rotation . This wrick the neutron star into a magnetar , which hosts the most potent magnetised field in the know universe .
The new-sprung magnetar is surround by pandemonium . Its own gravitative pull make the stay atmosphere of the parent star onto it , but the vivid radiation syndrome and magnetised fields whip that plasma around in a frenzy . In previous work , astronomers concluded that in this maelstrom , a jet forms along the spin bloc of the magnetar , punching its fashion through the dying star .
But the author of the new sketch realized that the magnetar ’s magnetic field can also shine intense burst of radiation along the magnetar ’s equator . Shaped by the extreme centrifugal forces of the rotating sensation , these beams of radiation form a blade that travel outward through the star at nearly the speed of light , carry more vim than a supernova explosion .
This " relativistic blade " can perfectly bisect the star , slit it in half on its way out , the field of study authors come up .
The brand then jaunt for a length well over several times the wheel spoke of the original star before it finally loses steam , potentially explaining some longer - last GRBs .
The hotshot ’s fate is seal . During the blade ’s travel , it picks up more and more cloth that eventually joins the blade in its outbound journey . The vane also causes instabilities within the star itself that lead , eventually , to its death .
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For this cogitation the researcher plainly demonstrated that a relativistic sword could explicate such GRBs . For their next whole tone , the researchers plan to study how the blade develop with time , and precisely how the ensuing leading death unfolds .
That would enable them to key out fundamental signatures of this type of explosion and watch if some GRBs scientists have previously observe can be excuse with this model .
