A sensitive radio survey by Breakthrough Listen has identified a candidate millisecond pulsar near Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. If confirmed, the finding could enable unprecedented tests of general relativity.
Scientists at Columbia University working with Breakthrough Listen, a research initiative dedicated to searching for evidence of extraterrestrial civilizations, have announced new findings from the Breakthrough Listen Galactic Center Survey. This project is one of the most sensitive radio operations ever conducted to find pulsars in the dense and turbulent core of the Milky Way.
In the survey, the researchers identified a promising potential pulsar with a frequency of 8.19 milliseconds located close to Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy.
Pulsar near a supermassive black hole
Verifying the body and precisely tracking the timing of its pulses could lead to powerful new experiments in general relativity. A pulsar in this extreme region would allow scientists to measure the behavior of space-time in the dense gravitational field around a supermassive black hole.
Pulsars are dense neutron stars left over from the explosion of massive stars. They spin rapidly, creating strong magnetic fields and focused beams of radio waves that scan space like lighthouse beams.
When not disturbed by external forces, pulsar signals reach telescopes with remarkable consistency. Because of this regular rhythm, pulsars function as very precise cosmic clocks. Millisecond-frequency pulsars spin extremely fast, so their timing patterns are even more stable and predictable.
How gravity can distort signals from pulsars
"Any external influence on a pulsar, such as the gravity of a massive body, will cause anomalies in this regular arrival of signals, which can be measured and modeled," said Slavko Bogdanov, one of the study's authors. "In addition, when signals travel close to a very massive body, they may be deflected and delayed due to the distortion of space-time, as predicted by Einstein's general theory of relativity."
Sagittarius A* contains a mass about four million times that of the Sun, so it has a huge gravitational influence on its environment.
Because of the potential scientific importance of this potential pulsar, researchers are now analyzing follow-up observations to see if the signal is indeed from a pulsar. If confirmed, we could better understand our galaxy and general relativity as a whole.
More of the topic in Hayadan:
