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Periodic activity from a fast radio burst source
A periodicity of roughly 16 days is detected for the fast radio burst 180916.J0158+65, suggesting that the burst arises from a periodically modulated mechanism instead of a cataclysmic or sporadic process.
- M. Amiri
- , B. C. Andersen
- & A. V. Zwaniga
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Article |
A repeating fast radio burst source localized to a nearby spiral galaxy
Only one repeating fast radio burst has been localized, to an irregular dwarf galaxy; now another is found to come from a star-forming region of a nearby spiral galaxy.
- B. Marcote
- , K. Nimmo
- & A. V. Zwaniga
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Article |
A very-high-energy component deep in the γ-ray burst afterglow
Very-high-energy γ-rays observed ten hours after the prompt emission of the γ-ray burst 180720B can be attributed to either an inverse Compton or an extreme synchrotron process.
- H. Abdalla
- , R. Adam
- & O. J. Roberts
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Article |
Teraelectronvolt emission from the γ-ray burst GRB 190114C
Observations of teraelectronvolt-energy γ-rays starting about one minute after the γ-ray burst GRB 190114C reveal a distinct component of the afterglow emission with power comparable to the synchrotron emission.
- V. A. Acciari
- , S. Ansoldi
- & L. Nava
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Article |
Observation of inverse Compton emission from a long γ-ray burst
A multi-frequency observing campaign of the γ-ray burst GRB 190114C reveals a broadband double-peaked spectral energy distribution, and the teraelectronvolt emission could be attributed to inverse Compton scattering.
- V. A. Acciari
- , S. Ansoldi
- & D. R. Young
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Letter |
Nine-hour X-ray quasi-periodic eruptions from a low-mass black hole galactic nucleus
Galaxy GSN 069 has unprecedented eruptions of X-ray light every nine hours, which indicate fast transitions between cold and warm states and may shed light on black hole accretion.
- G. Miniutti
- , R. D. Saxton
- & B. Agís-González
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Letter |
Collapsars as a major source of r-process elements
A rare type of supernova—triggered by the collapse of a rapidly rotating single star—could have provided more than 80 per cent of the r-process elements in the Universe.
- Daniel M. Siegel
- , Jennifer Barnes
- & Brian D. Metzger
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Letter |
A rapidly changing jet orientation in the stellar-mass black-hole system V404 Cygni
The relativistic jets associated with the black-hole X-ray binary system V404 Cygni change their orientation on time scales of minutes to hours, implying that the direction of the jets is being affected by the dynamics of the surrounding accretion flow that powers them.
- James C. A. Miller-Jones
- , Alexandra J. Tetarenko
- & Valeriu Tudose
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Letter |
A magnetar-powered X-ray transient as the aftermath of a binary neutron-star merger
Observations of an X-ray transient associated with a galaxy at redshift 0.738 suggest that the X-ray transient is powered by a millisecond magnetar and that it is the remnant of a merger between two neutron stars.
- Y. Q. Xue
- , X. C. Zheng
- & F. Vito
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Letter |
An X-ray chimney extending hundreds of parsecs above and below the Galactic Centre
Huge X-ray structures, termed Galactic Centre ‘chimneys’, extending hundreds of parsecs above and below the Galactic plane, appear to be exhaust channels connecting the Galactic Centre region to the Fermi bubbles.
- G. Ponti
- , F. Hofmann
- & A. Goldwurm
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Letter |
Verified quantum information scrambling
A quantum circuit in an ion-trap quantum computer provides a positive test for the scrambling features of a given unitary process.
- K. A. Landsman
- , C. Figgatt
- & C. Monroe
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Letter |
Signatures of a jet cocoon in early spectra of a supernova associated with a γ-ray burst
Multi-epoch observations of a supernova associated with a γ-ray burst reveal spectral features at extremely high expansion velocities within the first day after the burst, indicative of a choked jet.
- L. Izzo
- , A. de Ugarte Postigo
- & K. Wiersema
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Letter |
The corona contracts in a black-hole transient
X-ray observations of the evolution of a black-hole transient suggest a shrinkage of its corona, rather than a change in the inner edge of the accretion disk.
- E. Kara
- , J. F. Steiner
- & A. L. Stevens
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Letter |
Observations of fast radio bursts at frequencies down to 400 megahertz
Thirteen fast radio bursts—astrophysical events that last on the order of a millisecond—have been discovered at frequencies as low as 400 megahertz, including only the second known repeating burst.
- M. Amiri
- , K. Bandura
- & P. Yadav
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Letter |
A second source of repeating fast radio bursts
A second repeating fast radio burst is detected, showing behaviour similar to that of the first, and demonstrating that repeaters are unlikely to be rare.
- M. Amiri
- , K. Bandura
- & P. Yadav
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Letter |
A population of luminous accreting black holes with hidden mergers
High-resolution infrared observations of hard-X-ray-selected black holes show an excess of late-stage mergers in obscured luminous black holes compared with inactive galaxies of similar stellar masses and star formation rates.
- Michael J. Koss
- , Laura Blecha
- & David B. Sanders
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Letter |
The dispersion–brightness relation for fast radio bursts from a wide-field survey
A large-scale survey of fast radio bursts—short pulses of radio waves that seem to come from cosmological distances—finds 20 such events, including both the nearest and the most energetic bursts observed so far.
- R. M. Shannon
- , J.-P. Macquart
- & C. J. Riseley
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Letter |
Very-high-energy particle acceleration powered by the jets of the microquasar SS 433
Observations of teraelectronvolt γ-rays accelerated by the jets of the miniature quasar SS 433 are reported.
- A. U. Abeysekara
- , A. Albert
- & H. Zhou
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Letter |
An evolving jet from a strongly magnetized accreting X-ray pulsar
Observations of a jet from a strongly magnetized neutron star reveal that strong magnetic fields do not prevent jet formation and suggest that stellar properties influence jet power.
- J. van den Eijnden
- , N. Degenaar
- & J. V. Hernández Santisteban
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Letter |
Superluminal motion of a relativistic jet in the neutron-star merger GW170817
Emission from the radio counterpart of the gravitation-wave event GW170817 was powered by a wide-angle outflow at early times, but probably dominated by a narrowly collimated jet at later times.
- K. P. Mooley
- , A. T. Deller
- & K. Hotokezaka
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Letter |
Observations of the missing baryons in the warm–hot intergalactic medium
Observations of two absorbers of highly ionized oxygen in the X-ray spectrum of a quasar account for the missing baryons in the Universe.
- F. Nicastro
- , J. Kaastra
- & L. Zappacosta
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Letter |
Pulsar emission amplified and resolved by plasma lensing in an eclipsing binary
Radiation from the ‘black widow’ pulsar B1957+20 is amplified when a companion brown dwarf passes in front of the source, suggesting that plasma flowing from the companion acts as a lens.
- Robert Main
- , I-Sheng Yang
- & Marten H. van Kerkwijk
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Letter |
Alteration of the magnetosphere of the Vela pulsar during a glitch
Single-pulse radio observations of a glitch in the Vela pulsar show sudden changes in the pulse shape coincident with the glitch, indicating that the glitch could affect the pulsar’s magnetosphere.
- Jim Palfreyman
- , John M. Dickey
- & Willem van Straten
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Letter |
A density cusp of quiescent X-ray binaries in the central parsec of the Galaxy
Observations of 12 X-ray binaries that contain black holes within the central parsec of the Galaxy suggest the existence of hundreds more, and even more isolated black holes.
- Charles J. Hailey
- , Kaya Mori
- & Benjamin J. Hord
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Letter |
A surge of light at the birth of a supernova
The discovery of a newly born type IIb supernova reveals a rapid brightening at optical wavelengths that corresponds to the shock-breakout phase of the explosion.
- M. C. Bersten
- , G. Folatelli
- & N. Smith
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Letter |
Strong disk winds traced throughout outbursts in black-hole X-ray binaries
Analysis of the light curves of outbursts in black-hole X-ray binaries suggests that throughout the accretion process mass is lost from the accretion disks through strong, magnetically driven disk winds.
- B. E. Tetarenko
- , J.-P. Lasota
- & G. R. Sivakoff
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Letter |
An extreme magneto-ionic environment associated with the fast radio burst source FRB 121102
Polarimetric observations of the repeating fast radio burst source FRB 121102 suggest that the bursts may originate from a neutron star in the extreme magneto-ionic environment of an accreting massive black hole or supernova remnant.
- D. Michilli
- , A. Seymour
- & D. Whitlow
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Letter |
A mildly relativistic wide-angle outflow in the neutron-star merger event GW170817
The observed electromagnetic emission from GW170817 suggests that a ‘cocoon’ of mildly relativistic material was released as a jet transferred its energy to the neutron-rich dynamical ejecta from the merger.
- K. P. Mooley
- , E. Nakar
- & L. P. Singer
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Letter |
Magnetically gated accretion in an accreting ‘non-magnetic’ white dwarf
A weak magnetic field regulates magnetically gated accretion of gas from a companion star onto the white dwarf in the binary system MV Lyrae, previously labelled as a ‘non-magnetic’ system.
- S. Scaringi
- , T. J. Maccarone
- & P. J. Groot
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Letter |
Blazar spectral variability as explained by a twisted inhomogeneous jet
The spectral variability of the blazar CTA 102 during a recent extreme outburst could be explained by a twisted, inhomogeneous jet containing regions of different orientations that vary in time.
- C. M. Raiteri
- , M. Villata
- & O. Vince
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Letter |
Direct detection of a break in the teraelectronvolt cosmic-ray spectrum of electrons and positrons
A direct measurement of cosmic-ray electrons and positrons with unprecedentedly high energy resolution reveals a spectral break at about 0.9 teraelectronvolts, confirming the evidence found by previous indirect measurements.
- G. Ambrosi
- , Q. An
- & S. Zimmer
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Letter |
Measurement of the multi-TeV neutrino interaction cross-section with IceCube using Earth absorption
IceCube has measured the absorption of atmospheric and astrophysical neutrinos in the Earth, and found that the interaction cross-section of multi-TeV neutrinos is within 50 per cent of the predictions of the standard model.
- M. G. Aartsen
- , M. Ackermann
- & M. Zoll
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Letter |
Energetic eruptions leading to a peculiar hydrogen-rich explosion of a massive star
Observations of an event (several energetic eruptions leading to a terminal explosion that is surprisingly hydrogen-rich) with the spectrum of a supernova do not match with other observations of supernovae.
- Iair Arcavi
- , D. Andrew Howell
- & Brian Bue
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Letter |
Solar abundance ratios of the iron-peak elements in the Perseus cluster
High-resolution X-ray spectra show near-solar abundances of chromium, manganese and nickel with respect to iron in the Perseus cluster, suggesting that the progenitors of type Ia supernovae could be near- and sub-Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarfs.
- Felix Aharonian
- , Hiroki Akamatsu
- & Abderahmen Zoghbi
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Letter |
Optical emission from a kilonova following a gravitational-wave-detected neutron-star merger
Optical to near-infrared observations of a transient coincident with the detection of the gravitational-wave signature of a binary neutron-star merger and a low-luminosity short-duration γ-ray burst are presented and modelled.
- Iair Arcavi
- , Griffin Hosseinzadeh
- & Stefano Valenti
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Letter |
Origin of the heavy elements in binary neutron-star mergers from a gravitational-wave event
Modelling the electromagnetic emission of kilonovae enables the mass, velocity and composition (with some heavy elements) of the ejecta from a neutron-star merger to be derived from the observations.
- Daniel Kasen
- , Brian Metzger
- & Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz
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Letter |
The X-ray counterpart to the gravitational-wave event GW170817
Detection of X-ray emission at a location coincident with the kilonova transient of the gravitational-wave event GW170817 provides the missing observational link between short gamma-ray bursts and gravitational waves from neutron-star mergers.
- E. Troja
- , L. Piro
- & Y. Yoon
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Letter |
A gravitational-wave standard siren measurement of the Hubble constant
The astronomical event GW170817, detected in gravitational and electromagnetic waves, is used to determine the expansion rate of the Universe, which is consistent with and independent of existing measurements.
- B. P. Abbott
- , R. Abbott
- & M. Serra-Ricart
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Letter |
Spectroscopic identification of r-process nucleosynthesis in a double neutron-star merger
Observations of the transient associated with the gravitational-wave event GW170817 and γ-ray burst GRB 170817A reveal a bright kilonova with fast-moving ejecta, including lanthanides synthesized by rapid neutron capture.
- E. Pian
- , P. D’Avanzo
- & D. Vergani
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Letter |
A kilonova as the electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational-wave source
Observations and modelling of an optical transient counterpart to a gravitational-wave event and γ-ray burst reveal that neutron-star mergers produce gravitational waves and radioactively powered kilonovae, and are a source of heavy elements.
- S. J. Smartt
- , T.-W. Chen
- & O. Yaron
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Letter |
A hybrid type Ia supernova with an early flash triggered by helium-shell detonation
The detection and simulation of a type Ia supernova with an early, red flash suggests that it formed through detonation of the helium shell of a white dwarf, rather than by collision of the ejecta with a companion star or by merging with another white dwarf.
- Ji-an Jiang
- , Mamoru Doi
- & Satoshi Miyazaki
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Letter |
The close environments of accreting massive black holes are shaped by radiative feedback
Radiation pressure on dusty gas is the main physical mechanism that regulates the distribution of the circumnuclear material that obscures many supermassive black holes.
- Claudio Ricci
- , Benny Trakhtenbrot
- & Neil Gehrels
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Letter |
Distinguishing spin-aligned and isotropic black hole populations with gravitational waves
The spins of the black holes involved in each of the four mergers that have been detected in gravitational waves so far were either small or not aligned with the binary orbit.
- Will M. Farr
- , Simon Stevenson
- & Alberto Vecchio
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Letter |
Significant and variable linear polarization during the prompt optical flash of GRB 160625B
The prompt optical flash produced by the γ-ray burst GRB 160625B is highly linearly polarized, suggesting that it is produced by fast-cooling synchrotron radiation in a large-scale magnetic field.
- E. Troja
- , V. M. Lipunov
- & N. Gehrels
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Letter |
The response of relativistic outflowing gas to the inner accretion disk of a black hole
X-ray detection of an ultrafast outflow of gas is strongly linked with energy emission from the inner accretion disk of a black hole, suggesting that X-rays ionize the outflowing disk wind.
- Michael L. Parker
- , Ciro Pinto
- & Abderahmen Zoghbi
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Letter |
Ultraluminous X-ray bursts in two ultracompact companions to nearby elliptical galaxies
A search of archival X-ray data for 70 nearby galaxies yielded two flaring sources in globular clusters or ultracompact dwarf companions of parent elliptical galaxies.
- Jimmy A. Irwin
- , W. Peter Maksym
- & Jon M. Miller
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Letter |
A radio-pulsing white dwarf binary star
Observations of a white dwarf/cool star binary that emits from X-ray to radio wavelengths, AR Sco, reveal a close binary with a 3.56-h period, pulsing in brightness with a period of 1.97 min; these pulses are so intense that the optical flux of AR Sco can increase by a factor of four within 30 s, and the pulsing is detectable at radio frequencies.
- T. R. Marsh
- , B. T. Gänsicke
- & P. J. Wheatley
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Letter |
The quiescent intracluster medium in the core of the Perseus cluster
X-ray observations of the core of the Perseus cluster reveal a remarkably quiescent atmosphere in which the gas has a line-of-sight velocity dispersion of about 164 kilometres per second in the region 30–60 kiloparsecs from the central nucleus; turbulent pressure support in the gas is four per cent of the thermodynamic pressure, necessitating only a small correction to the total cluster mass determined from hydrostatic equilibrium.
- Felix Aharonian
- , Hiroki Akamatsu
- & Abderahmen Zoghbi
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Letter |
Relativistic reverberation in the accretion flow of a tidal disruption event
Observations of reverberation arising from gravitationally redshifted iron Kα photons reflected off the inner accretion flow in a tidal disruption event demonstrate that X-rays originate from a region very close to the central black hole and not from a relativistic jet, as previously thought.
- Erin Kara
- , Jon M. Miller
- & Lixin Dai
Resolving acceleration to very high energies along the jet of Centaurus A