High-energy astrophysics articles from across Nature Portfolio

We report observations of GRB 231115A, positionally coincident with the starburst galaxy M82, that unambiguously qualify this burst as a giant flare from a magnetar, which is a rare explosive event releasing gamma rays.

Cosmic rays at petaelectronvolt energies permeate the Milky Way, but their origin is unknown. This Review Article summarizes the physics required to accelerate particles to these ultrahigh energies, and their potential astrophysical sources (‘PeVatrons’).

Analysis of the energy budget of a sample of 54 well-observed stripped-envelope supernovae of all sub-types shows statistically significant, largely model-independent, observational evidence for a non-radioactive power source in most of them.

JWST observations of GRB 221009A reveal the associated supernova, confirming that the GRB resulted from the collapse of a rapidly rotating massive star. The lack of r-process emission suggests that these extreme events are not key sources of the heaviest elements.

Radio pulses from a rare, radio-loud magnetar, XTE J1810−197, are seen to have undergone a conversion in their polarization state. This change can be linked to the magnetar’s magnetic field geometry, and has commonalities with an effect also seen in fast radio bursts.

Using ultraviolet data as well as a comprehensive set of further multiwavelength observations of the supernova 2023ixf, a reliable bolometric light curve is derived that indicates the heating nature of the early emission.

In 2023, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory discovered high-energy neutrinos from the Milky Way, an important clue towards understanding the origin of high-energy cosmic rays.

Theories predict that core asphericity must be involved in core-collapse supernova explosions; however, the shape of these explosions has not been directly observed. The distribution of the explosive burning ash has now been revealed using nebular spectroscopy, indicating that a collimated structure is common in many stellar explosions.

High-resolution observations using a network of ground-based radio dishes and one telescope in space have revealed filamentary structures in the source 3C279. These filaments may explain the origin of radio variability in blazar jets.

Fast radio bursts, arriving at Earth from distant galaxies, usually have durations of a few milliseconds or more. Now, data on a source of repeating fast radio bursts have been revisited, with much higher time resolution than before, and burst signals are seen that last only a few microseconds — showing that the properties of fast radio bursts are more diverse than previously thought.