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Return to the One in Ten Thousand

2 April 2023
Astronomy, Electromagnetism

Going back to https://phys.org/news/2023-03-nasa-missions-in-year-gamma-ray.html … which is derived from https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/acc390/pdf … we further learn they are still looking for the supernova – and plan to carry on looking for it, in spite of any hinto of it via infrared observation via the NASA James Webb Space Telescope. The idea was to penetrate dust clouds – created by the hypotheticl supernova. They were successful in observing the multi-wavelength afterglow accross the electro-magneitc spectrum. However, their models of afterglow cannot explain the jet itself. In particular, they discovered a new radio component that is not fully understood. They will probably have to revise thei models, on how GRB jets interact with thier surroundings.

The jets themselves were not necessarily powerful but they wre exceptionally narrow – much like the jet setting on a garden hose. It was also directly pointed at our solar system. This appears to account for the extraordinary bright mass. GRB 221009A has also caused cosmologists and astronomers to radically rethink black holes, we are told. Perhaps they are not all consuming things as they also return power and energy back into the universe, or so it would seem. One wonders how a model  of a black hole look like in the future.

This aspect is taken a stage further at https://phys.org/news/2023-03-bright-gamma-ray-confounds-black.html …. bright gamma ray burst confounds models of black hole birth. It is assumed the burst originated in a collapsing star involving an explosion of that star’s core. This is thought to create black holes. However, the large amount of data delivered from GRB221009A does mean mainstream theories of how stars collapse and generate enormous jets of outflowing material accompanied by  powerful X-rays and gamma rays, is weofully inadequate. Basically, the models failed, we are told. Deeply. NuSTAR observations helped astronomers pin down the strength of the magnetic field in the after glow. What makes this one so bright. They say, it is the narrow angle into which the energy is channelled. The afterglow may be visible for months, or years. Upon analysing and confirming data from a lot of telescapes around the world they found the radion measurements were brighter based on the X-ray and visible light alone. This does not fit the signature of a reverse shock – the idea a shock wae propagates backward through the jet to generate radio emissions. It indicated something more complicated. They still think there is a very fast moving jet that is generating the X-rays and visible light but their modeling suggest something else is creating the radion light. See also https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acbfad

At https://phys.org/news/2023-03-arizona-astronomers-brightest-gamma-ray.html … research teams associated with the University of Arizona on the same intense gamma ray burst. We are told a supernova may be hiding in the afterglow.

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