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10h ago

Astronomers Pinpoint Long-Period Radio Transient to Accreting White Dwarf Binary

The multi-telescope detection maps 81-minute radio flares to a cataclysmic variable and offers a model to interpret other mysterious slow radio bursts.

The ASKAP radio telescope at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory on Wajarri Yamaji Country in Western Australia. (Credit: Alex Cherney/CSIRO)
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First Proof Mysterious Radio Pulses Come From Cataclysmic Variables Represents “Astronomical Rosetta Stone”
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Overview

  • An international team led by University of Sydney PhD student Kovi Rose identified ASKAP J1745−5051 as a magnetic cataclysmic variable using coordinated observations reported on Monday.
  • Radio telescopes observed repeating radio flares every about 81 minutes that match an optical orbital period and are accompanied by periodic X-rays detected by Swift and the Einstein Probe.
  • The radio and X-ray peaks are offset in phase, which shows the radio bursts come from magnetic interactions between the stars while the X-rays come from material heating as it falls onto the white dwarf.
  • Researchers say ASKAP J1745−5051 can act as a 'Rosetta stone' to distinguish LPTs caused by white dwarf binaries from other theories like slow pulsars, but they note most cataclysmic variables do not show LPT behavior.
  • Teams plan further coordinated radio, optical and X-ray monitoring to narrow the system's large distance range of roughly 1,300 to 30,000 light-years and to test how representative this object is for the wider LPT population.