Search Publications
A repeating fast radio burst source in a globular cluster
Lindqvist, M.; Lazio, T. J. W.; Ransom, S. M. +63 more
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are flashes of unknown physical origin1. The majority of FRBs have been seen only once, although some are known to generate multiple flashes2,3. Many models invoke magnetically powered neutron stars (magnetars) as the source of the emission4,5. Recently, the discovery6 of another…
A time-resolved picture of our Milky Way's early formation history
Xiang, Maosheng; Rix, Hans-Walter
The formation of our Milky Way can be split up qualitatively into different phases that resulted in its structurally different stellar populations: the halo and the disk components1-3. Revealing a quantitative overall picture of our Galaxy's assembly requires a large sample of stars with very precise ages. Here we report an analysis of …
Star formation near the Sun is driven by expansion of the Local Bubble
Alves, João; Speagle, Joshua S.; Zucker, Catherine +8 more
For decades we have known that the Sun lies within the Local Bubble, a cavity of low-density, high-temperature plasma surrounded by a shell of cold, neutral gas and dust1-3. However, the precise shape and extent of this shell4,5, the impetus and timescale for its formation6,7, and its relationship to nearby star fo…
A dusty compact object bridging galaxies and quasars at cosmic dawn
Marques-Chaves, R.; Magdis, G. E.; Colina, L. +18 more
Understanding how super-massive black holes form and grow in the early Universe has become a major challenge1,2 since it was discovered that luminous quasars existed only 700 million years after the Big Bang3,4. Simulations indicate an evolutionary sequence of dust-reddened quasars emerging from heavily dust-obscured starburs…
Optical superluminal motion measurement in the neutron-star merger GW170817
Anderson, Jay; Lu, Wenbin; Mooley, Kunal P.
The afterglow of the binary neutron-star merger GW1708171 gave evidence for a structured relativistic jet2-6 and a link3,7,8 between such mergers and short gamma-ray bursts. Superluminal motion, found using radio very long baseline interferometry3 (VLBI), together with the afterglow light curve provided …
A stellar stream remnant of a globular cluster below the metallicity floor
Mucciarelli, Alessio; Fouesneau, Morgan; Sestito, Federico +23 more
Stellar ejecta gradually enrich the gas out of which subsequent stars form, making the least chemically enriched stellar systems direct fossils of structures formed in the early Universe1. Although a few hundred stars with metal content below 1,000th of the solar iron content are known in the Galaxy2-4, none of them inhabit g…
X-ray detection of a nova in the fireball phase
Wilms, Jörn; Haberl, Frank; Rauch, Thomas +17 more
Novae are caused by runaway thermonuclear burning in the hydrogen-rich envelopes of accreting white dwarfs, which leads to a rapid expansion of the envelope and the ejection of most of its mass1,2. Theory has predicted the existence of a `fireball' phase following directly on from the runaway fusion, which should be observable as a shor…
A white dwarf accreting planetary material determined from X-ray observations
Wheatley, Peter J.; Gänsicke, Boris T.; Veras, Dimitri +4 more
The atmospheres of a large proportion of white dwarf stars are polluted by heavy elements1 that are expected to sink out of visible layers on short timescales2,3. This has been interpreted as a signature of ongoing accretion of debris from asteroids4, comets5 and giant planets6. This scenario …
Localized thermonuclear bursts from accreting magnetic white dwarfs
Knigge, C.; de Martino, D.; Done, C. +16 more
Nova explosions are caused by global thermonuclear runaways triggered in the surface layers of accreting white dwarfs1-3. It has been predicted4-6 that localized thermonuclear bursts on white dwarfs can also take place, similar to type-I X-ray bursts observed in accreting neutron stars. Unexplained rapid bursts from the binar…
A 62-minute orbital period black widow binary in a wide hierarchical triple
Kulkarni, S. R.; Duev, Dmitry A.; Riddle, Reed +30 more
Over a dozen millisecond pulsars are ablating low-mass companions in close binary systems. In the original `black widow', the eight-hour orbital period eclipsing pulsar PSR J1959+2048 (PSR B1957+20)1, high-energy emission originating from the pulsar2 is irradiating and may eventually destroy3 a low-mass companion. …