Artistic vision of a neutron star with a powerful magnetic field Swift J0243.6 + 6124, releasing a jet. During the bright event of a flash, the object was accreted at an incredibly high speed, forming abundant x-rays from the internal parts of the accretion disk. In the same period, the team recorded radio emission. Having studied its changes, it was possible to understand that the rays came from the jets of the magnetic poles of a neutron star.
A new study was able to fix the radio from a neutron star with a powerful magnetic field that does not fit into the modern theory. For the study, we used the Swift J0243.6 + 6124 object and the VLA (Ultra Large Antenna Grid) radio telescope in New Mexico. In fact, neutron stars can be considered as stellar corpses. They appear when a massive star runs out of fuel, and it explodes in the form of a supernova, where the central parts collapse under the force of their own gravity. This crash causes the magnetic field to increase several trillion times the solar index. Then it gradually fades over hundreds of thousands of years. Sometimes you can find neutron stars and black holes, rotating in orbit with a star-companion. Gas from the satellite feeds a neutron star or a black hole, because of which jets arise at about the speed of light.
The artistic vision of the Swift J0243.6 + 6124 neutron star. It has an extremely strong magnetic field that prevents the accretion disk from completely penetrating the surface of a neutron star. Part of the gas on the disk is directed along the magnetic field lines to the magnetic poles, which leads to the formation of x-rays, which we observe as short regular pulses of x-rays
For decades, astronomers knew about the existence of jets, but observed emissions from neutron stars with weaker magnetic fields. It was believed that a sufficiently powerful magnetic field prevents the formation of jets. Black holes were perceived as the undisputed leaders in launching powerful jets, while the weak ones were attributed to neutron stars. But the magnetic field of the studied neutron star is 10 trillion. times stronger than the sun, so for the first time it was possible to notice jets from a neutron star with an extremely powerful magnetic field.
The artistic vision of the Swift J0243.6 + 6124 dual system. With a neutron star in the 27-day orbit, there is a more massive and rapidly rotating donor star. Fast rotation of the latter leads to the ejection of a disk of material around the stellar equator. When a neutron star passes through this disk on its orbital path, it receives a part of the ejected gas, which then spirals down to the accretion disk.
Researchers around the world are studying jets to better understand the process of their formation and the amount of energy thrown into space. The discovery of such jets indicates that the scientific world still does not have sufficient information about a deep understanding of the process of their creation.
