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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Bedtime Astronomy. Explore the wonders of the cosmos

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<v Speaker 1>with our soothing Bedtime Astronomie podcast. Each episode offers a

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<v Speaker 1>gentle journey through the stars, planets, and beyond, perfect for

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<v Speaker 1>unwinding after a long day. Let's travel through the mysteries

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<v Speaker 1>of the universe as you drift off into a peaceful

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<v Speaker 1>slumber under the night sky.

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<v Speaker 2>So I want you to just imagine for a second,

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<v Speaker 2>standing outside on a perfectly clear, incredibly dark night. You know,

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<v Speaker 2>you are looking up at the sky, tracing those familiar constellations,

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<v Speaker 2>maybe even spotting a galaxy like Andromeda as this faint,

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<v Speaker 2>fuzzy smudge against the black right.

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<v Speaker 3>Just a quiet night under the stars exactly.

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<v Speaker 2>But now I want you to imagine that within one

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<v Speaker 2>of those distant, quiet galaxies, a star dies. And this

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<v Speaker 2>isn't your standard stellar death. I want you to picture

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<v Speaker 2>a detonation so inconceivably bright that it outshines almost supernovae

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<v Speaker 2>by a factor of ten, maybe even one.

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<v Speaker 3>Hundred, oh easily one hundred in some cases.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah yeah, And it is so luminous that for a

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<v Speaker 2>brief window in cosmic time, it completely dominates the night

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<v Speaker 2>sky of its host galaxy literally outshining billions of other

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<v Speaker 2>mature stars combined.

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<v Speaker 3>It's honestly a scale of energy release that operates at

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<v Speaker 3>the absolute edge of physical laws. I mean, when we

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<v Speaker 3>discuss these specific events, we're looking at something that fundamentally

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<v Speaker 3>rewrites the thermodynamics and really the geometry of its surrounding neighborhood.

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<v Speaker 2>It's just mind bending. And today our mission is to

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<v Speaker 2>solve a sixteen year old cosmic cold case. We are

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<v Speaker 2>going to witness the birth of a terrifyingly powerful stellar

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<v Speaker 2>engine called a magnetar and discover how a century old

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<v Speaker 2>theory by Albert Einstein provided the ultimate key to understanding

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<v Speaker 2>a billion light year distant explosion.

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<v Speaker 3>It really is one of the most baffling mysteries of

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<v Speaker 3>the twenty first century.

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<v Speaker 2>It really is. Okay, let's unpack this, because since they

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<v Speaker 2>were first identified in the early two thousands, these ultra

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<v Speaker 2>bright explosions, what astronomers call superluminous supernovae, have been a

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<v Speaker 2>massive thorn in the side of stellar physicists.

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<v Speaker 3>A huge thorn. They completely defied the standard energy budget.

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<v Speaker 2>Right. The core anomaly is basically this, why do these

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<v Speaker 2>specific explosions stay so intensely bright for so long, well

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<v Speaker 2>after the star's nuclear fuel is gone, and that initial

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<v Speaker 2>kinetic stock wave has just dissipated exactly.

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<v Speaker 3>The established mechanics of core collapse simply could not account

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<v Speaker 3>for the sheer duration and the intensity of that lingering light.

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<v Speaker 3>I mean, it was as if someone had pulled the

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<v Speaker 3>plug on a massive city grid, but instead of the

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<v Speaker 3>lights fading out, the entire infrastructure just kept glowing at

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<v Speaker 3>maximum intensity.

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<v Speaker 2>For months, which makes no sense. So to really grasp

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<v Speaker 2>why superlimited supernovae broke the energy models in the early

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<v Speaker 2>two thousands, we have to look closely at the math

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<v Speaker 2>of a stellar explosion. I think most of you listening

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<v Speaker 2>are already familiar with the baseline physics.

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<v Speaker 3>Right.

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<v Speaker 2>A massive star hits the iron limit, fusion stops, gravity winds,

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<v Speaker 2>the core collapses into a neutron star or black coal,

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<v Speaker 2>and the rebound shockwave blasts the outer layers into space.

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<v Speaker 3>That is the standard mechanism, yes, right, And.

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<v Speaker 2>We know that the lingering glow of a normal supernova

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<v Speaker 2>is primarily powered by the radioactive decay of heavy elements

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<v Speaker 2>synthesized in that blast, specifically nickel fifty six decaying into

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<v Speaker 2>cobalt fifty six and then into iron fifty six.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and we can calculate exactly how much light a

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<v Speaker 3>given mass of nickel fifty six will produce as it decays.

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<v Speaker 3>It's very well understood.

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<v Speaker 2>Because it's just radioactive half life right.

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<v Speaker 3>Precisely, A typical core collapse supernova might forge, say a

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<v Speaker 3>fraction of a solar mass of nickel fifty six, which

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<v Speaker 3>gives you a very predictable light curve. The light rises

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<v Speaker 3>as the ejecta expands and becomes transparent enough for the

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<v Speaker 3>trapped radiation to escape.

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<v Speaker 2>It hits a peak, and then it fades with smoothly.

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<v Speaker 3>Right, it follows a very smooth, mathematically precise exponential decline

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<v Speaker 3>dictated by the half life of those isotopes.

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<v Speaker 2>But wait, if we see a super luminous supernova that

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<v Speaker 2>is ten times brighter, couldn't the simple explanation just be

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<v Speaker 2>that while the star was exceptionally massive and therefore it

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<v Speaker 2>just forged ten times as much nickel fifty six during

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<v Speaker 2>the explosion. Like, why did astrophysicists immediately assume there was

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<v Speaker 2>a mystery to solve.

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<v Speaker 3>It comes down to the fundamental limits of nuclear synthesis

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<v Speaker 3>to power the like curves we were seeing in these

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<v Speaker 3>superlomitous events, especially the hydrogen pore ones and as Type

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<v Speaker 3>I superlumined supernovae, you would need to synthesize an absurd

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<v Speaker 3>amount of nickel fifty six.

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<v Speaker 2>How absurd are we talking?

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<v Speaker 3>In some cases the calculation showed you would need five,

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<v Speaker 3>maybe even ten solar masses of pure radioactive nickel.

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<v Speaker 2>Wait, really, let me stop you there, because the sheer

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<v Speaker 2>physics of that seems impossible. You're saying the math required

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<v Speaker 2>the star to produce more nickel than the entire mass

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<v Speaker 2>of the core that collapsed in the first place.

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<v Speaker 3>That is the exact core of the issue. Yeah, a

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<v Speaker 3>collapsing star simply cannot convert that much of its mass

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<v Speaker 3>into nickel fifty six. The thermodynamics don't.

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<v Speaker 2>Allow for it, right, It would just blow itself apart exactly.

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<v Speaker 3>The core would become unstable, and pair instability might rip

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<v Speaker 3>the star apart entirely in a different kind of explosion,

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<v Speaker 3>but it wouldn't leave the remnants we were observing. So

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<v Speaker 3>you have a light curve peaking at ten to the

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<v Speaker 3>forty four ergs per second, staying there for one hundred days,

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<v Speaker 3>and the radioactive decay model completely fails. To provide that.

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<v Speaker 2>Energy because you cannot get something from nothing, No, you can't.

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<v Speaker 3>The initial shockwave is gone, the radioactive decay is entirely insufficient. Therefore,

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<v Speaker 3>something else must be pumping extra energy into the expanding

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<v Speaker 3>debris field.

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<v Speaker 2>I was trying to visualize the mechanics of this, and

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<v Speaker 2>I want you, the listener, to picture the setup. If

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<v Speaker 2>the fuel is gone, how is the fire still burning.

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<v Speaker 2>Imagine you have a heavy duty flashlight. You switch it on,

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<v Speaker 2>it's blindingly bright. Then you take the battery pack completely out,

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<v Speaker 2>but instead of the light going dark, the bulb suddenly

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<v Speaker 2>shines ten times brighter and stays that way for months.

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<v Speaker 3>That is a great analogy.

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<v Speaker 2>You would immediately realize there has to be a hidden

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<v Speaker 2>power source somewhere in the circuitry that you just can't see.

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<v Speaker 3>Right.

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<v Speaker 2>There has to be a secondary battery.

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<v Speaker 3>And that is exactly where the astrophysics community landed. They

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<v Speaker 3>deduced that the initial collapse and explosion could not be

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<v Speaker 3>the end of the stellar death process. The only viable

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<v Speaker 3>explanation for a superluminous supernova was the existence of a

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<v Speaker 3>hidden engine. A hidden engine, Yeah, something active buried deep

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<v Speaker 3>within the expanding cloud of stellar debris continuously injecting vast

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<v Speaker 3>amounts of kinetic or electromagnetic energy into the wreckage.

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<v Speaker 2>But finding that engine is a logistical nightmare, right, I mean,

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<v Speaker 2>the debris field of a supernova isn't just a wisp

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<v Speaker 2>of smoke. You are looking at several solar masses of

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<v Speaker 2>plasma and heavy elements expanding outward at ten thousand kilometers

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<v Speaker 2>per second. It is optically thick. It is completely opaque.

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<v Speaker 3>It is much denser than any material we interact with

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<v Speaker 3>on a daily basis. The photons generated at the center,

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<v Speaker 3>they take weeks just to scatter their way out through

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<v Speaker 3>the expanding.

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<v Speaker 2>Ejecta like bouncing around inside a pinmall machine.

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<v Speaker 3>Exactly a process governed by radiative diffusion. So whatever this

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<v Speaker 3>hidden engine was, it was entirely obscured from our telescopes.

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<v Speaker 3>We could measure the effect of the engine that sustained

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<v Speaker 3>unnatural luminosity, but we couldn't peer through the glowing plasma

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<v Speaker 3>curtain to see the machinery actually operating at the center.

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<v Speaker 2>So it's basically a locked room mystery. But the room

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<v Speaker 2>is a billion light years across, filled with superheated plasma

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<v Speaker 2>and exploding.

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<v Speaker 3>A very chaotic locked room. Right.

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<v Speaker 2>So to figure out what this hidden engine actually was,

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<v Speaker 2>we have to rewind the timeline to a bold theoretical

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<v Speaker 2>prediction made back in twenty ten.

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<v Speaker 3>Yes, in twenty ten, Dan Cosson, a theoretical atrophysicist at

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<v Speaker 3>UC Berkeley, along with Lars Bilsten, put forward a very

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<v Speaker 3>specific hydrodynamic model. And this concept was actually being developed

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<v Speaker 3>independently and concurrently by Stanford Woosley at UC Santa Cruz.

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<v Speaker 2>Right, great minds thinking alike exactly.

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<v Speaker 3>They looked at the energy deficit of these superluminous supernobe

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<v Speaker 3>and hypothesized that the core of the star hadn't just

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<v Speaker 3>collapsed into a standard quiet neutron star. They proposed that

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<v Speaker 3>the core colapse had birthed something far more extreme, which

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<v Speaker 3>is a magnetar.

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<v Speaker 2>A magnetar. Okay, we know that when a massive star's

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<v Speaker 2>core collapses, if it doesn't cross the Tumann Oppenheimer Wolcoff

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<v Speaker 2>mass limit to become a black hole, it becomes a

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<v Speaker 2>neutron star, basically a sphere of degenerate neutron matter. But Kayson,

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<v Speaker 2>Bilston and Woosley, we're talking about a very specific, rare

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<v Speaker 2>subclass of neutron star. Let's break down the anatomy of

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<v Speaker 2>this monster, because the physical parameters required by their twenty

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<v Speaker 2>ten model are just staggering.

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<v Speaker 3>They really are. So to understand the extreme nature of

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<v Speaker 3>a magnetar, you first have to look at the baseline

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<v Speaker 3>of a standard neutron star. When that iron core collapses,

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<v Speaker 3>gravity is so intense that it overcomes electron degeneracy pressure.

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<v Speaker 3>It literally crushes electrons and protons together to form neutrons.

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<v Speaker 2>Just mashing them into a pace.

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<v Speaker 3>Pretty much an entire stellar core. Roughly the mass of

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<v Speaker 3>our Sun gets compressed into a sphere with a radius

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<v Speaker 3>of only about ten to twelve kilometers.

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<v Speaker 2>So ten miles across. I want you to really picture

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<v Speaker 2>that density. You could fit it inside the city limits

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<v Speaker 2>of most major metropolitan areas, but it contains the mass

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<v Speaker 2>of an entire sun. Like a single sugar cube sized

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<v Speaker 2>chunk of this material would weigh hundreds of billions of

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<v Speaker 2>tons on Earth.

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<v Speaker 3>The density is analogous to the nucleus of an atom,

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<v Speaker 3>just scaled up to the size of a city. Now,

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<v Speaker 3>because of the conservation of angular momentum, you know the

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<v Speaker 3>classic figure skater pulling their arms into spin faster that

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<v Speaker 3>incredibly dense fhere is going to be.

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<v Speaker 2>Rotating right speeds up as it shrinks exactly.

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<v Speaker 3>Most newborn neutron stars spin quite fast, maybe a few

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<v Speaker 3>dozen times a second, and they possess strong magnetic fields.

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<v Speaker 3>We observe those as.

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<v Speaker 2>Pulsars, But a magnetar takes those parameters and dials them

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<v Speaker 2>up to an almost incomprehensible degree. How does a standard

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<v Speaker 2>neutron star become a magnetar during that initial collapse.

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<v Speaker 3>It requires a perfect storm of initial conditions. The progenitor

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<v Speaker 3>star likely needs to have a rapidly rotating core and

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<v Speaker 3>a pre existing magnetic field. During the split second of

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<v Speaker 3>the core collapse, you have incredibly violent convection currents churning

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<v Speaker 3>inside the proto neutron star.

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<v Speaker 2>It's boiling inside.

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<v Speaker 3>Right, boiling violently, and if the rotation is fast enough,

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<v Speaker 3>those convective currents combined with the rotation to create a

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<v Speaker 3>runaway dynamo effect. This dynamo amplifies the magnetic field exponentially

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<v Speaker 3>before the star even has a chance to fully cool

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<v Speaker 3>and settle.

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<v Speaker 2>Wow.

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<v Speaker 3>So instead of standard pulsar with a magnetic field of

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<v Speaker 3>say ten to the twelve gaals, which is already billions

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<v Speaker 3>of times stronger than the Earth, you get a magnetar.

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<v Speaker 3>A magnetar's magnetic field operates in the range of ten

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<v Speaker 3>to fourteen to the ten of the fifteen gas that

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<v Speaker 3>it is one hundred to one thousand times stronger than

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<v Speaker 3>a typical pulsar.

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<v Speaker 2>I just I don't think the human brain is wired

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<v Speaker 2>to intuitively understand a magnetic field of ten to the

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<v Speaker 2>fifteen gus. If you are somehow able to survive the

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<v Speaker 2>radiation and approach within one thousand miles of a magnetar,

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<v Speaker 2>what does a magnetic field of that magnitude physically due

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<v Speaker 2>to ordinary matter To a person?

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<v Speaker 3>It entirely overrides the electromagnetic forces that hold matter together.

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<v Speaker 3>A field that strong physically warps the electron orbitals of atoms.

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<v Speaker 3>Instead of spherical electron clouds, the magnetic field stretches the

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<v Speaker 3>atoms into long, thin, needle like cylinders beetles.

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<v Speaker 2>That sounds horrifying.

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<v Speaker 3>It would completely dissolve the molecular bonds of your body.

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<v Speaker 3>The chemistry that makes life or even solid objects possible,

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<v Speaker 3>just ceases to function. The magnetic field becomes a dominant

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<v Speaker 3>physical force, rivaling gravity and the strong nuclear force in

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<v Speaker 3>the immediate vicinity of the crust.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, so Casson's twenty ten model places this ten mile

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<v Speaker 2>wide ball of ultra dense matterwarping neutrons at the center

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<v Speaker 2>of the supernova. But a strong magnetic field alone doesn't

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<v Speaker 2>generate light right to power the supernova. This magnetar has

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<v Speaker 2>to be moving. How fast did their math require this

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<v Speaker 2>object to spin? To account for the energy deficit we

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<v Speaker 2>talked about earlier.

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<v Speaker 3>To match the luminosity of the brightest supernova, the twenty

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<v Speaker 3>ten models required the newborn magnetar to be spinning at

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<v Speaker 3>near breakup velocity. We're talking about rotational period of one

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<v Speaker 3>to five millisecond milliseconds. Yes, that means this city size

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<v Speaker 3>object is completing a full rotation roughly one thousand times

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<v Speaker 3>every single second.

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<v Speaker 2>Let's just push on that for a second. An object

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<v Speaker 2>with the mass of a sun spinning one thousand times

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<v Speaker 2>a second the equator is moving at a significant fraction

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<v Speaker 2>of the speed of light. The centrifugal forces trying to

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<v Speaker 2>rip the star apart must be fighting a titanic war

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<v Speaker 2>against its own gravity.

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<v Speaker 3>And gravity only barely wins. But it's exactly that tension

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<v Speaker 3>that immense reservoir of rotational kinetic energy that serves as

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<v Speaker 3>the hidden engine.

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<v Speaker 2>Ah see, here's.

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<v Speaker 3>How the mechanism actually powers the supernova. You have this

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<v Speaker 3>newly formed magnetar at the exact center of the expanding

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<v Speaker 3>debris field is spinning one thousand times a second. As

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<v Speaker 3>it rotates, that ten to the fifteen gaals magnetic field

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<v Speaker 3>whips around with it.

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<v Speaker 2>So you have a magnetic field tearing through the immediate

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<v Speaker 2>surrounding space at relativistic speeds.

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<v Speaker 3>Yes, it a rotating magnetic field generates an intense electric field.

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<v Speaker 3>This extracts charged particles from the surface of the neutron

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<v Speaker 3>star and accelerates them to near the speed of light,

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<v Speaker 3>creating this massive outflow of energy called a pulsar wind.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh wow.

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<v Speaker 3>And this highly energized wind of particles in radiation just

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<v Speaker 3>slams violently into the inner wall of the expanding supernova ejecta.

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<v Speaker 2>So instead of the debris fiel just expanding outward and

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<v Speaker 2>cooling adaabatically into the dark, it is constantly being superheated

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<v Speaker 2>from the inside by this relativistic particle wind.

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<v Speaker 3>That is the precise mechanism. The continuous injection of energy

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<v Speaker 3>from the magnetar's wind heats the surrounding plasma. This process,

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<v Speaker 3>known as magnetic dipole radiation, converts the rotational spin energy

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<v Speaker 3>of the neutron star into thermal energy in the ejecta.

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<v Speaker 3>This is what keeps the plasma glowing white hot entirely,

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<v Speaker 3>solving that energy deficit problem incredible. The magnetar basically acts

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<v Speaker 3>as an unseen dynamo, slowly spinning down over weeks and months,

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<v Speaker 3>transferring its rotational energy into the light we see.

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<v Speaker 2>But wait, I have a question about the timeline here.

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<v Speaker 2>If you have a magnetic field that is one hundred

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<v Speaker 2>to one thousand times stronger than a normal pulse or

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<v Speaker 2>the magnetic breaking effect must be immense. Doesn't that intense

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<v Speaker 2>field act like a massive friction break, causing the magnetar

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<v Speaker 2>to spin down and lose its energy almost immediately. How

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<v Speaker 2>does it sustain the glow for hundreds of days.

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<v Speaker 3>That is a fantastic point, and it's exactly why the

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<v Speaker 3>math works so perfectly for a superluminous supernovae. You are right,

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<v Speaker 3>magnetic breaking is severe. A normal pulsar might spin for

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<v Speaker 3>millions of years, but a magnetar, because its field is

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<v Speaker 3>so strong, sheds its rotational energy very quickly. The spin

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<v Speaker 3>down time scale for a magnetar with a millisecond period

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<v Speaker 3>and a ten to the fourteen gus field is on

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<v Speaker 3>the order of weeks to months.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh and riaks. Two months is exactly the duration of

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<v Speaker 2>a superluminous supernova light curve.

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<v Speaker 3>Yes, the rate at which the magnetar hits the brakes

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<v Speaker 3>and dumps its energy perfectly matches the time scale required

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<v Speaker 3>to keep the supernova bright. If it's spun down in seconds,

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<v Speaker 3>you just get a brief gamma ray burst. If it's

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<v Speaker 3>spun down over centuries, the energy injection will be too

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<v Speaker 3>slow to outshine an normal supernova. The magnetar hits the

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<v Speaker 3>absolute physical sweet.

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<v Speaker 2>Spot is just a breathtakingly elegant theory.

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<v Speaker 3>What's fascinating here is how Dan Kasm viewed his own model.

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<v Speaker 3>He noted that for years this magnetar engine concept felt

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<v Speaker 3>almost like a theorist.

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<v Speaker 2>Magic trick, because they were essentially inventing an invisible machine

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<v Speaker 2>just to balance their equations.

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<v Speaker 3>To a degree. Yes, it was mathematically robust, but observationally frustrating.

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<v Speaker 3>Theorists were essentially saying, we have this giant, unexplained luminosity

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<v Speaker 3>we will solve it by hiding a phenomenally powerful, totally

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<v Speaker 3>unobservable engine behind the thickest layers of stellar debris in

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<v Speaker 3>the universe. Very convenient, right, the highly natural explanation. But

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<v Speaker 3>because the ejecta is so optically thick thanks to Thompson's

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<v Speaker 3>scattering of photons off free electrons in the plasma, yeah,

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<v Speaker 3>there was no direct way to look inside and verify

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<v Speaker 3>the engine's existence.

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<v Speaker 2>So they were staring at the glowing curtain, mathematically proving

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<v Speaker 2>that a wizard must be pulling the levers behind it,

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<v Speaker 2>but on it able to actually open the curtain exactly.

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<v Speaker 2>And in astrophysics, a beautiful mathematical model is just a

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<v Speaker 2>theory until the universe gives you proof. They had to

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<v Speaker 2>wait sixteen years for that proof. The theory was published

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<v Speaker 2>in twenty ten, and the definitive proof finally arrived in

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<v Speaker 2>December twenty twenty four. It did, but when it did,

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<v Speaker 2>it didn't just give us a blurry glimpse of the engine.

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<v Speaker 2>It laid bare the exact mechanical workings of the magic trick.

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<v Speaker 3>It really did, and the data came from a very specific,

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<v Speaker 3>highly unusual stellar explosion designated SN twenty twenty four A five.

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<v Speaker 2>Let's look at the observational logistics of SN twenty twenty

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<v Speaker 2>four A five. Because the scale is staggering, this event

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<v Speaker 2>wasn't happening in our galactic neighborhood. The host galaxy for

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<v Speaker 2>this supernova is located approximately one billion light years from Earth.

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<v Speaker 3>To put that immense distance into context, the photons we

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<v Speaker 3>analyzed from SN twenty twenty four to five began their

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<v Speaker 3>journey across the universe a billion years ago, long before

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<v Speaker 3>the first multicellular organisms even evolved in Earth's oceans. This

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<v Speaker 3>massive star exhausted its fuel and collapsed.

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<v Speaker 2>That is just on inspiring to think about.

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<v Speaker 3>Is that light traveled through the expanding vacuum of intergalactic

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<v Speaker 3>space completely undisturbed until it finally struck the mirrors of

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<v Speaker 3>our telescopes in late twenty twenty.

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<v Speaker 2>Four, and astronomers were uniquely prepared to catch it thanks

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<v Speaker 2>to the Los Cumber's Observatory. For those who aren't familiar,

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<v Speaker 2>Lost Cumber's isn't just a single telescope on a mountain.

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<v Speaker 2>It is a globally distributed, interconnected network of robotic telescopes.

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<v Speaker 2>They have twenty seven instruments placed strategically across different longitudes

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<v Speaker 2>and hemispheres.

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<v Speaker 3>The geographic distribution is the key to their success. Historically,

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<v Speaker 3>if you wanted to monitor a supernova, you were limited

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<v Speaker 3>by the Earth's rotation. The sun comes up, your observation

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<v Speaker 3>window closes and you have.

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<v Speaker 2>To wait for nightfall, and in that twelve hour gap,

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<v Speaker 2>crucial data could be lost.

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<v Speaker 3>Exactly Furthermore, you are at the mercy of local weather.

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<v Speaker 3>If it rains for a week, you miss a massive

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<v Speaker 3>chunk of a light curve.

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<v Speaker 2>But with Las Cumbres, the sun never rises on their network.

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<v Speaker 3>Precisely as don aro Wich is a telescope in Hawaii,

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<v Speaker 3>the system automatically hands off the observation to a telescope

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<v Speaker 3>in Australia, and then to South Africa and then to Chile.

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<v Speaker 3>It provides continuous, unbroken surveillance of a target. They can

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<v Speaker 3>stare at a single point in the sky relentlessly, and

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<v Speaker 3>for SN twenty twenty four or five, they attracted continuously

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<v Speaker 3>for more than two hundred days.

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<v Speaker 2>That continuous cadence is what cracked the case, because when

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<v Speaker 2>you map out the brightness over time creating that light curve,

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<v Speaker 2>you need high resolution data to spot anomalies.

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<v Speaker 3>R you need to see every little dip and spike.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And for the first month and a half SN

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<v Speaker 2>twenty twenty four have looked like a fairly standard, though

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<v Speaker 2>extremely bright, superluminous supernova. It surged in brightness, hit its

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<v Speaker 2>peak luminosity, and started its long slow decline. But then

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<v Speaker 2>about fifty days after peak brightness, the data did something bizarre.

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<v Speaker 3>Graduate student Joseph Ferra, operating out of UC Santa Barbara

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<v Speaker 3>and the Lost Coomber's Observatory, along with senior astronomer Andy Howell.

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<v Speaker 3>They were analyzing the photometric data and they noticed that

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<v Speaker 3>the fading like curve wasn't smooth. The exponential decay was

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<v Speaker 3>being interrupted.

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<v Speaker 2>It wasn't just a gentle slope downward.

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<v Speaker 3>No, it wasn't. Instead of steadily fading the luminosity, the

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00:19:10.799 --> 00:19:13.960
<v Speaker 3>explosion suddenly spiked, reached a mini peak, and then fell

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<v Speaker 3>back down. And then a few weeks later it spiked again, peaked,

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<v Speaker 3>and fell. It repeated this pattern, creating highly distinct, measurable

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<v Speaker 3>bumps in the light curve.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, I want to push on the data quality here.

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<v Speaker 2>When you are looking at a signal from a billion

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<v Speaker 2>light years away, the signal to noise ratio has to

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<v Speaker 2>be challenging. How did they know these bumps weren't just

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<v Speaker 2>instrumental errors or atmospheric interference or just you know, noise

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<v Speaker 2>in the CCD cameras.

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<v Speaker 3>The last cumbers pipeline is incredibly rigorous about characterizing noise.

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<v Speaker 3>Because they have multiple telescopes observing the same event, they

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<v Speaker 3>can cross correlate. Oh that makes sense, right If a

393
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<v Speaker 3>telescope in Chili sees a bump, but a telescope in

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<v Speaker 3>Australia observing at the same time, doesn't you know it's

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<v Speaker 3>a local artifact. But these bumps were consistent across the

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00:19:56.920 --> 00:20:01.599
<v Speaker 3>entire network. They were statistically robust, high sigma deviations from

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<v Speaker 3>the expected decay curve. The supernova was physically flashing.

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<v Speaker 2>Brighter, and looking at the data, they didn't just record

399
00:20:08.279 --> 00:20:11.960
<v Speaker 2>one or two flashes. They recorded four distinct bumps in

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00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:15.279
<v Speaker 2>the light curve over a period of several weeks. Now,

401
00:20:15.319 --> 00:20:19.160
<v Speaker 2>the absolute key to unlocking this mystery lies in the

402
00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:21.480
<v Speaker 2>timing of those four bumps. I want you to visualize

403
00:20:21.519 --> 00:20:24.000
<v Speaker 2>the spacing time interval between the first bump and the

404
00:20:24.039 --> 00:20:26.640
<v Speaker 2>second bump was a certain number of days, but the

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00:20:26.680 --> 00:20:29.960
<v Speaker 2>time between the second and third bump was noticeably shorter, Yes,

406
00:20:30.119 --> 00:20:32.880
<v Speaker 2>and the time between the third and fourth bump was shorter. Still,

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00:20:33.240 --> 00:20:36.440
<v Speaker 2>the intervals between the brightness spikes were progressively decreasing.

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00:20:36.519 --> 00:20:38.680
<v Speaker 3>The frequency of the fluctuations was accelerating.

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00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:43.400
<v Speaker 2>Joseph Farah used a brilliant analogy to describe this accelerating frequency.

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00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:46.559
<v Speaker 2>He compared the pattern to the rising pitch of a

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00:20:46.599 --> 00:20:50.799
<v Speaker 2>bird's chirp. If you imagine a bird calling tweet tweet,

412
00:20:51.160 --> 00:20:53.680
<v Speaker 2>the notes get closer together and higher in pitch at

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<v Speaker 2>the end.

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<v Speaker 3>It's a very evocative way to put it.

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00:20:55.640 --> 00:20:59.559
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that exact accelerating rhythm was embedded in the photonic

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<v Speaker 2>data from a billion light years away. But let's look

417
00:21:02.680 --> 00:21:05.599
<v Speaker 2>at the historical context here, because seeing bumps on a

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00:21:05.640 --> 00:21:09.400
<v Speaker 2>light curve isn't entirely unprecedented, is it. We have observed

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<v Speaker 2>supernova with jagged light curves.

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<v Speaker 3>Before we have it is relatively rare, but astronomers have

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00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:18.319
<v Speaker 3>documented supernova that show one or two spikes in brightness

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00:21:18.359 --> 00:21:22.079
<v Speaker 3>as they fade. However, the astrophysics community had a very

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00:21:22.119 --> 00:21:26.079
<v Speaker 3>well established standard hydrodynamic explanation for those events.

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<v Speaker 2>They attributed it to circumstellar interaction. Right the shockwave hitting

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00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:31.240
<v Speaker 2>pre existing gas, yes.

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00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:34.920
<v Speaker 3>Exactly, dyeing massive stars are highly unstable in the millennia

427
00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:38.279
<v Speaker 3>leading up to their death. They experience violent mass loss episodes,

428
00:21:38.599 --> 00:21:42.079
<v Speaker 3>essentially ejecting massive shells of gas and dust that form

429
00:21:42.119 --> 00:21:45.400
<v Speaker 3>a thick, complex nebula around the star. When the star

430
00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:50.079
<v Speaker 3>finally undergoes core collapse, the supernova ejecta expands outward at

431
00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:52.519
<v Speaker 3>a significant fraction of the speed of light, and eventually

432
00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:56.000
<v Speaker 3>it slams into those pre existing shells of circumstellar material.

433
00:21:56.160 --> 00:22:00.440
<v Speaker 2>Ah like a high speed snowplow crashing into a dense bank.

434
00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:02.839
<v Speaker 3>That's a great way to picture it. When the fast

435
00:22:02.920 --> 00:22:06.319
<v Speaker 3>moving injecta hits the slow moving gas shell, a massive

436
00:22:06.440 --> 00:22:09.839
<v Speaker 3>forward and reverse shockwaves is generated. The kinetic energy of

437
00:22:09.880 --> 00:22:13.440
<v Speaker 3>that collision is violently converted into thermal energy and X rays,

438
00:22:13.559 --> 00:22:17.160
<v Speaker 3>which get reprocessed into optical light. Got it. That collision

439
00:22:17.279 --> 00:22:21.519
<v Speaker 3>registers as a distinct bump on the light curve. So historically,

440
00:22:21.519 --> 00:22:25.119
<v Speaker 3>when astronomer saw a bump, the default assumption was simply

441
00:22:25.640 --> 00:22:28.920
<v Speaker 3>the supernova debris just plowed into a dense pocket of gas.

442
00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:32.039
<v Speaker 2>But wait, Previous supernovae have shown one or two light

443
00:22:32.039 --> 00:22:35.440
<v Speaker 2>bumps from shockwaves hitting surrounding gas. So why is four

444
00:22:35.480 --> 00:22:38.319
<v Speaker 2>bumps such a paradigm shifting deal? Like, if a star

445
00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:40.559
<v Speaker 2>can burp out one shell of gas, why couldn't burp

446
00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:43.559
<v Speaker 2>out four shells of gas space perfectly so the shockwave

447
00:22:43.640 --> 00:22:44.759
<v Speaker 2>hits them one after another.

448
00:22:44.920 --> 00:22:48.240
<v Speaker 3>When you look closely at the fluid dynamics, the circumcellar

449
00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:52.960
<v Speaker 3>interaction model completely breaks down for this specific light curve. First,

450
00:22:53.039 --> 00:22:55.200
<v Speaker 3>as you noted, the shells would have to be perfectly

451
00:22:55.240 --> 00:22:58.839
<v Speaker 3>spaced to create an accelerating rhythm, which is highly improbable

452
00:22:58.880 --> 00:22:59.400
<v Speaker 3>in nature.

453
00:22:59.559 --> 00:23:02.160
<v Speaker 2>Right, isn't usually that neat exactly?

454
00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:06.480
<v Speaker 3>But more importantly, the physics of the collision itself precludes

455
00:23:06.519 --> 00:23:09.559
<v Speaker 3>this kind of signal. When the ejecta hits the first

456
00:23:09.640 --> 00:23:13.039
<v Speaker 3>shell of gas, it doesn't just pass through cleanly. The

457
00:23:13.079 --> 00:23:17.720
<v Speaker 3>collision creates severe Raley tailor instabilities. The boundary layer becomes

458
00:23:17.720 --> 00:23:20.119
<v Speaker 3>incredibly turbulent and chaotic.

459
00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:23.640
<v Speaker 2>So the expanding shockwave gets shredded and smeared out.

460
00:23:23.799 --> 00:23:26.240
<v Speaker 3>Yes, by the time the ejecta passes through the first

461
00:23:26.279 --> 00:23:29.559
<v Speaker 3>shell and hits a hypothetical second or third shell, the

462
00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:32.400
<v Speaker 3>shocksrunt is no longer a sharp, distinct wall. It is

463
00:23:32.440 --> 00:23:36.039
<v Speaker 3>a messy, turbulent transition zone. You wouldn't get sharp, distinct

464
00:23:36.119 --> 00:23:38.960
<v Speaker 3>individual flashes of light. The collisions would blend together into

465
00:23:39.039 --> 00:23:41.880
<v Speaker 3>a broad, messy plateau of sustained brightness.

466
00:23:42.119 --> 00:23:44.480
<v Speaker 2>The structural integrity of the shockwave is gone.

467
00:23:44.759 --> 00:23:49.039
<v Speaker 3>Yes, the sheer number of bumps, their sharp profile, and

468
00:23:49.160 --> 00:23:54.279
<v Speaker 3>most crucially, that very specific accelerating chirp rhythm entirely ruled

469
00:23:54.279 --> 00:23:58.680
<v Speaker 3>out random collisions with surrounding gas clouds. Random fluid dynamics

470
00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:02.839
<v Speaker 3>do not produce highly structure mathematically accelerating rhythmic flashes.

471
00:24:02.920 --> 00:24:03.880
<v Speaker 2>Wow. Okay.

472
00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:07.079
<v Speaker 3>When Fair and Howell analyze this data, they realized the

473
00:24:07.160 --> 00:24:12.720
<v Speaker 3>universe was signaling something deeply mechanical, something rotating, geometric and structured,

474
00:24:13.079 --> 00:24:15.319
<v Speaker 3>was operating at the core of the debris field.

475
00:24:15.400 --> 00:24:18.519
<v Speaker 2>The hidden engine was finally revealing itself. But you know,

476
00:24:18.640 --> 00:24:21.039
<v Speaker 2>realizing it was an engine and understanding how it worked

477
00:24:21.079 --> 00:24:24.599
<v Speaker 2>are two very different things. To decode the specific accelerating

478
00:24:24.640 --> 00:24:27.480
<v Speaker 2>trip of s N twenty twenty four to five, Fara's

479
00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:31.519
<v Speaker 2>team had to abandon classical Newtonian physics entirely did. They

480
00:24:31.559 --> 00:24:35.200
<v Speaker 2>realized that standard gravity and hydrodynamics couldn't explain the rhythm.

481
00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:38.680
<v Speaker 2>They had to utilize Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.

482
00:24:38.759 --> 00:24:42.119
<v Speaker 3>This is where the physics gets truly profound. To understand

483
00:24:42.119 --> 00:24:44.599
<v Speaker 3>the mechanism, we have to look at the immediate aftermath

484
00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:48.000
<v Speaker 3>of the magnetar's birth. The star's cores collapse, the magnetars

485
00:24:48.039 --> 00:24:50.640
<v Speaker 3>spinning seriously, and the outer layers of the star have

486
00:24:50.759 --> 00:24:55.160
<v Speaker 3>been blasted outward. Right, But the explosion isn't perfectly efficient.

487
00:24:55.759 --> 00:24:59.599
<v Speaker 3>Gravity is still an overwhelmingly dominant force in the immediate

488
00:24:59.640 --> 00:25:03.359
<v Speaker 3>vicinity of the newborn neutron star. So a small fraction

489
00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:07.519
<v Speaker 3>of the innermost stellar material doesn't reach escape velocity. It

490
00:25:07.559 --> 00:25:10.400
<v Speaker 3>gets caught in the magnetar's gravitational well and begins to

491
00:25:10.440 --> 00:25:11.279
<v Speaker 3>fall back inward.

492
00:25:11.559 --> 00:25:15.400
<v Speaker 2>Oh, this is the fallback accretion phase. But the material

493
00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:19.519
<v Speaker 2>doesn't just drop straight down onto the surface right, Because

494
00:25:19.559 --> 00:25:22.440
<v Speaker 2>the star was rotating before it died. The exploding material

495
00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:24.000
<v Speaker 2>still carries angular momentum.

496
00:25:24.079 --> 00:25:27.279
<v Speaker 3>Right, conservation of angular momentum dictates that the infalling material

497
00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:32.240
<v Speaker 3>must swirl as it falls back toward the magnetar. Centrifugal

498
00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:35.799
<v Speaker 3>forces cause it to flatten out into a superheated, extremely

499
00:25:35.839 --> 00:25:39.640
<v Speaker 3>dense ring of plasma orbiting the equator of the neutron star.

500
00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:40.680
<v Speaker 2>An accretion disc.

501
00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:43.720
<v Speaker 3>Yes, this is an accretion disk. So the architecture of

502
00:25:43.720 --> 00:25:47.359
<v Speaker 3>our engine is a central hyper spinning magnetar surrounded by

503
00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:49.839
<v Speaker 3>a flat disc of glowing, swirling plasma.

504
00:25:49.960 --> 00:25:53.559
<v Speaker 2>But the critical geometric detail here is the alignment. The

505
00:25:53.559 --> 00:25:56.839
<v Speaker 2>accretion disc is not perfectly aligned with the magnetar's equator.

506
00:25:56.480 --> 00:26:00.599
<v Speaker 3>Is it. It is highly unlikely to be aligned or collapse.

507
00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:06.200
<v Speaker 3>Supernovae are inherently chaotic asymmetric events. The neutrino heating that

508
00:26:06.319 --> 00:26:09.920
<v Speaker 3>drives the explosion is turbulent. Often the neutron star itself

509
00:26:09.960 --> 00:26:14.200
<v Speaker 3>receives a massive kick velocity during birth due to these asymmetries,

510
00:26:14.519 --> 00:26:17.039
<v Speaker 3>completely skewing its rotational axis.

511
00:26:16.680 --> 00:26:18.720
<v Speaker 2>So it's slightly off kilter right.

512
00:26:19.319 --> 00:26:22.920
<v Speaker 3>Therefore, the angular momentum vector of the fallback material will

513
00:26:22.960 --> 00:26:26.240
<v Speaker 3>almost certainly differ from the spin axis of the newborn magnetar.

514
00:26:26.920 --> 00:26:30.559
<v Speaker 3>The accretion disc forms it a tilt. It is misaligned

515
00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:31.799
<v Speaker 3>relative to the magnetar.

516
00:26:31.880 --> 00:26:33.640
<v Speaker 2>I want to make sure I'm visualizing this correctly. You

517
00:26:33.640 --> 00:26:36.400
<v Speaker 2>have the magnetar spinning on its vertical axis straight up

518
00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:38.880
<v Speaker 2>and down like a top, but the accretion disk of

519
00:26:38.920 --> 00:26:42.680
<v Speaker 2>superheated plasma circling it is tilted at a sharp angle

520
00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:44.599
<v Speaker 2>like a hula hoop that has been tipped partially over.

521
00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:47.119
<v Speaker 3>That is the exact geometry. Now, if we lived in

522
00:26:47.160 --> 00:26:50.880
<v Speaker 3>a purely Newtonian universe, classical physics says that tilted disc

523
00:26:50.920 --> 00:26:53.839
<v Speaker 3>would simply maintell its orbit. The gravity of the central

524
00:26:53.880 --> 00:26:55.839
<v Speaker 3>mass would hold it in place, and it would just

525
00:26:55.880 --> 00:26:58.000
<v Speaker 3>spin at an angle indefinitely.

526
00:26:57.519 --> 00:26:59.279
<v Speaker 2>Just happily spinning along right.

527
00:27:00.119 --> 00:27:03.960
<v Speaker 3>Magnetar does not exist in a classical Newtonian framework. It

528
00:27:04.039 --> 00:27:07.079
<v Speaker 3>is an object of extreme mass and density spinning at

529
00:27:07.079 --> 00:27:10.079
<v Speaker 3>a significant fraction to the speed of light. And this

530
00:27:10.119 --> 00:27:12.279
<v Speaker 3>is where einstein General relativity takes.

531
00:27:12.039 --> 00:27:15.079
<v Speaker 2>Over, because Einstein proved that space is not just an

532
00:27:15.119 --> 00:27:18.920
<v Speaker 2>empty coordinate system. It is a physical fabric. It has geometry.

533
00:27:19.400 --> 00:27:22.599
<v Speaker 2>The stress energy tensor tells us that mass bends the

534
00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:26.519
<v Speaker 2>fabric of space time, creating what we perceive as gravity.

535
00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:30.000
<v Speaker 3>Mass tells space time how to curve, and curve space

536
00:27:30.039 --> 00:27:32.839
<v Speaker 3>time tells mass how to move. That is the foundational

537
00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:37.519
<v Speaker 3>concept of general relativity classic Einstein exactly. But Einstein's equations

538
00:27:37.559 --> 00:27:41.640
<v Speaker 3>reveal a secondary, even more bizarre effect. If a massive

539
00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:44.839
<v Speaker 3>object is strictly stationary, it just creates a static dimple

540
00:27:44.880 --> 00:27:47.920
<v Speaker 3>in space time. But if that massive object is rotating,

541
00:27:47.960 --> 00:27:51.000
<v Speaker 3>it doesn't just bend the fabric, It physically drags the

542
00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:53.200
<v Speaker 3>fabric of space time along with it as it turns.

543
00:27:53.319 --> 00:27:53.839
<v Speaker 2>Wow.

544
00:27:54.200 --> 00:27:57.000
<v Speaker 3>This phenomenon is known as lends during procession, or more

545
00:27:57.000 --> 00:27:57.839
<v Speaker 3>commonly frame.

546
00:27:57.720 --> 00:28:01.839
<v Speaker 2>Dragging frame dragging. It is a concept that just challenges

547
00:28:01.960 --> 00:28:05.599
<v Speaker 2>our basic intuition of reality. The best way I've found

548
00:28:05.640 --> 00:28:07.559
<v Speaker 2>to conceptualize this, and I want you to picture this

549
00:28:07.599 --> 00:28:11.839
<v Speaker 2>at home. Imagine a large jar filled with incredibly thick honey.

550
00:28:12.680 --> 00:28:14.880
<v Speaker 2>If you take a spoon, push it right into the

551
00:28:14.880 --> 00:28:17.759
<v Speaker 2>center of the honey and just hold it still, the

552
00:28:17.839 --> 00:28:20.559
<v Speaker 2>honey wraps around the spoon but remains stationary.

553
00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:21.759
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, a static dimple.

554
00:28:21.880 --> 00:28:25.319
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that represents a static mass bending space. But if

555
00:28:25.319 --> 00:28:28.079
<v Speaker 2>you take that sooon and start spinning it incredibly fast,

556
00:28:28.079 --> 00:28:31.359
<v Speaker 2>you don't just rotate the spoon. The friction grabs the

557
00:28:31.400 --> 00:28:34.279
<v Speaker 2>honey itself, and the honey gets dragged into a swirling,

558
00:28:34.400 --> 00:28:36.359
<v Speaker 2>twisting bortex around the spoon.

559
00:28:36.519 --> 00:28:39.240
<v Speaker 3>That is a phenomenal analogy for frame dragging. In this

560
00:28:39.319 --> 00:28:43.160
<v Speaker 3>astrophysical scenario, the spinning spoon is the newborn magnetar and

561
00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:46.359
<v Speaker 3>the thick honey is the fundamental metric of space and time. Itself.

562
00:28:46.559 --> 00:28:49.799
<v Speaker 3>The magnetar is spinning so furiously and contains so much

563
00:28:49.839 --> 00:28:52.799
<v Speaker 3>concentrated mass that it is literally twisting the geometry of

564
00:28:52.799 --> 00:28:55.279
<v Speaker 3>the universe around it in a cosmic fortex.

565
00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:58.519
<v Speaker 2>So, the local space time around the magnetar is physically swirling.

566
00:28:59.240 --> 00:29:02.680
<v Speaker 2>But how does dragging space time create a flashing light like?

567
00:29:02.799 --> 00:29:07.160
<v Speaker 2>How does that vortex explain the four distinct bumps we

568
00:29:07.240 --> 00:29:08.799
<v Speaker 2>saw in the last cumbers data.

569
00:29:09.359 --> 00:29:11.960
<v Speaker 3>We have to bring the tilted decretion disc back into

570
00:29:11.960 --> 00:29:14.680
<v Speaker 3>the picture. For that, that tipped over hula hoop of

571
00:29:14.680 --> 00:29:19.400
<v Speaker 3>plasma is physically embedded inside that swirling vortex of space time.

572
00:29:20.279 --> 00:29:23.000
<v Speaker 3>As the fabric of space is violently dragged around the

573
00:29:23.039 --> 00:29:26.279
<v Speaker 3>magna car, it exerts a profound gravitational torque on the

574
00:29:26.279 --> 00:29:27.079
<v Speaker 3>misaligned disc.

575
00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:30.079
<v Speaker 2>Oh because the space itself is moving, Yes, the.

576
00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:32.240
<v Speaker 3>Disc has no choice but to follow the curvature of

577
00:29:32.279 --> 00:29:35.480
<v Speaker 3>the space it occupies. The twisting space time violently yanks

578
00:29:35.519 --> 00:29:37.839
<v Speaker 3>on the disc, causing the entire structure.

579
00:29:37.440 --> 00:29:39.839
<v Speaker 2>To wabble wobble in the same way as spinning top

580
00:29:39.880 --> 00:29:42.079
<v Speaker 2>behaves as it starts to lose momentum. You know, the

581
00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:45.119
<v Speaker 2>way the axis of the top starts tracing a slow circle.

582
00:29:44.759 --> 00:29:48.559
<v Speaker 3>In the air exactly. In orbital mechanics, that wobble. It's

583
00:29:48.599 --> 00:29:53.440
<v Speaker 3>called nodal precession. The entire tilted disc is processing around

584
00:29:53.440 --> 00:29:57.039
<v Speaker 3>the magnetar's spin axis. Now think about the optical layout

585
00:29:57.039 --> 00:29:59.960
<v Speaker 3>of this system. At the center, you have a bound

586
00:30:00.319 --> 00:30:03.400
<v Speaker 3>layer where the disc meets the magnetar, which is generating

587
00:30:03.480 --> 00:30:06.880
<v Speaker 3>immense amounts of high energy radiation X rays and extreme

588
00:30:07.119 --> 00:30:11.400
<v Speaker 3>ultraviolet light super bright, yes, intensely bright. And surrounding that

589
00:30:11.440 --> 00:30:14.400
<v Speaker 3>brilliant center, you have the thick, opaque, tilted disc of

590
00:30:14.480 --> 00:30:17.400
<v Speaker 3>plasma which is now wobbling in a circle due to

591
00:30:17.400 --> 00:30:18.119
<v Speaker 3>frame dragging.

592
00:30:18.279 --> 00:30:20.319
<v Speaker 2>Oh I see it. The wobbling disc acts like a

593
00:30:20.319 --> 00:30:21.400
<v Speaker 2>giant physical shutter.

594
00:30:21.519 --> 00:30:25.240
<v Speaker 3>Precisely, it creates a cosmic lighthouse effect. As the tilted

595
00:30:25.240 --> 00:30:28.519
<v Speaker 3>disc wobbles, its geometric orientation relative to our line of

596
00:30:28.559 --> 00:30:32.279
<v Speaker 3>sight on Earth is constantly shifting. During one phase of

597
00:30:32.279 --> 00:30:34.799
<v Speaker 3>the wobble, the thickest part of the tilted disc rotates

598
00:30:34.799 --> 00:30:37.839
<v Speaker 3>into our line of sight, physically blocking the intensely bright

599
00:30:37.920 --> 00:30:41.079
<v Speaker 3>central emission region. The supernova appears slightly dimmer to our

600
00:30:41.079 --> 00:30:42.599
<v Speaker 3>telescopes because the core is.

601
00:30:42.559 --> 00:30:46.519
<v Speaker 2>Obscured, but the space time vortex continues to drag the disk,

602
00:30:46.759 --> 00:30:48.240
<v Speaker 2>forcing the wobble to continue, and.

603
00:30:48.240 --> 00:30:51.039
<v Speaker 3>Half a processional cycle later, the disc tips out of

604
00:30:51.039 --> 00:30:54.079
<v Speaker 3>the way, Our line of sight to the brilliant superheated

605
00:30:54.119 --> 00:30:57.119
<v Speaker 3>central region is clear, and a massive pulse of radiation

606
00:30:57.240 --> 00:31:00.640
<v Speaker 3>escapes toward Earth. Additionally, the broad phase of the tilted

607
00:31:00.680 --> 00:31:03.279
<v Speaker 3>disc can act like a mirror, catching the intense radiation

608
00:31:03.359 --> 00:31:06.759
<v Speaker 3>from the magnetar and reflecting a massive pulse of light outward.

609
00:31:07.119 --> 00:31:08.960
<v Speaker 2>So it's unblocking it and reflecting it.

610
00:31:09.160 --> 00:31:12.319
<v Speaker 3>Yes, And regardless of whether it's unobscuring the core or

611
00:31:12.359 --> 00:31:17.680
<v Speaker 3>reflecting light, the observational result is identical. A sudden, massive

612
00:31:17.759 --> 00:31:19.599
<v Speaker 3>spike in luminosity.

613
00:31:19.000 --> 00:31:21.720
<v Speaker 2>A bump in the light curve. One full wobble of

614
00:31:21.720 --> 00:31:25.440
<v Speaker 2>the accretion disc produces one distinct pulse of light. It's

615
00:31:25.480 --> 00:31:28.079
<v Speaker 2>a lighthouse, driven not by a mechanical motor, but by

616
00:31:28.119 --> 00:31:32.039
<v Speaker 2>the physical warping of space time itself. That beautifully explains

617
00:31:32.039 --> 00:31:34.599
<v Speaker 2>the flashing. It explains why the bumps exist, But we

618
00:31:34.640 --> 00:31:36.599
<v Speaker 2>still have to address the chirp. The time between the

619
00:31:36.599 --> 00:31:39.680
<v Speaker 2>bumps was shrinking, the frequency of the flashing was accelerating.

620
00:31:39.960 --> 00:31:42.799
<v Speaker 2>How does the lens thiring wobble explain the acceleration?

621
00:31:43.200 --> 00:31:46.000
<v Speaker 3>It explains it perfectly when you consider the thermodynamics of

622
00:31:46.039 --> 00:31:48.960
<v Speaker 3>the disk. An accretion disc is not a static ring.

623
00:31:49.359 --> 00:31:53.279
<v Speaker 3>The plasma within the disk is subject to magneto rotational instabilities.

624
00:31:53.279 --> 00:31:56.680
<v Speaker 3>In extreme friction, as the gas particles rub against each other,

625
00:31:56.960 --> 00:31:59.359
<v Speaker 3>they generate heat and radiate energy.

626
00:31:59.119 --> 00:32:00.799
<v Speaker 2>Away, loosing energy.

627
00:32:01.039 --> 00:32:05.480
<v Speaker 3>Exactly by shedding this orbital energy, the material loses angular

628
00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:09.880
<v Speaker 3>momentum and slowly spirals inward, falling closer and closer to

629
00:32:09.920 --> 00:32:11.559
<v Speaker 3>the surface of the spinning magnetar.

630
00:32:11.920 --> 00:32:14.039
<v Speaker 2>And if we go back to our honey analogy, what

631
00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:16.920
<v Speaker 2>happens as you move closer to the spinning spoon.

632
00:32:17.000 --> 00:32:21.440
<v Speaker 3>The vortex becomes exponentially stronger. The frame dragging effect, the

633
00:32:21.480 --> 00:32:24.960
<v Speaker 3>twisting of the space time metric is inversely proportional to

634
00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:28.039
<v Speaker 3>the cube of the radius. It gets significantly more violent

635
00:32:28.079 --> 00:32:30.119
<v Speaker 3>the closer you get to the surface of the neutron star.

636
00:32:30.839 --> 00:32:34.640
<v Speaker 3>So as the accretion disk loses energy, shrinks and spirals inward,

637
00:32:35.160 --> 00:32:37.240
<v Speaker 3>it moves into regions of space time that are being

638
00:32:37.319 --> 00:32:39.160
<v Speaker 3>dragged much more rapidly.

639
00:32:38.799 --> 00:32:42.039
<v Speaker 2>Which means the gravitational torque on the disc increases dramatically.

640
00:32:42.400 --> 00:32:46.960
<v Speaker 3>Yes, stronger dragging produces greater torque, which forces the disc

641
00:32:47.079 --> 00:32:51.799
<v Speaker 3>to precess or wobble faster. As the disc spirals inward

642
00:32:51.880 --> 00:32:55.559
<v Speaker 3>over a period of weeks, its processional wobble continuously speeds up.

643
00:32:55.880 --> 00:32:58.319
<v Speaker 3>A faster wabble means that disc is acting as a shuther,

644
00:32:58.559 --> 00:33:01.480
<v Speaker 3>more rapidly blocking and reeling the central light at an

645
00:33:01.519 --> 00:33:02.400
<v Speaker 3>accelerating pace.

646
00:33:02.640 --> 00:33:06.240
<v Speaker 2>Faster wabble equals faster flashing. The time interval between the

647
00:33:06.279 --> 00:33:08.440
<v Speaker 2>light pulses naturally gets shorter and shorter.

648
00:33:08.640 --> 00:33:11.799
<v Speaker 3>That is the origin of the chirp. The viscous inward

649
00:33:11.920 --> 00:33:15.319
<v Speaker 3>spiral of a tilted disc inside a frame dragging vortex

650
00:33:15.559 --> 00:33:19.119
<v Speaker 3>perfectly dictates the accelerating rhythm seeing the lost Komber's data.

651
00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:22.039
<v Speaker 3>If we connect this to the bigger picture, the profound

652
00:33:22.079 --> 00:33:25.000
<v Speaker 3>achievement here is that Ferre's team didn't just propose this

653
00:33:25.079 --> 00:33:28.160
<v Speaker 3>as a neat qualitative idea. They took the exact field

654
00:33:28.160 --> 00:33:32.079
<v Speaker 3>equations of general relativity, calculated the theoretical processional rate of

655
00:33:32.079 --> 00:33:35.839
<v Speaker 3>an inspiring disc around a rapidly rotating mass, and plotted

656
00:33:35.880 --> 00:33:38.799
<v Speaker 3>that mathematical curve over the observational data from s N

657
00:33:38.880 --> 00:33:40.000
<v Speaker 3>twenty twenty four or five.

658
00:33:40.279 --> 00:33:42.119
<v Speaker 2>Let me guess it fit the.

659
00:33:42.079 --> 00:33:44.599
<v Speaker 3>Relativistic model map perfectly onto the four bumps.

660
00:33:44.960 --> 00:33:49.000
<v Speaker 2>The math of Einstein's spacetime dragging exactly matched the real

661
00:33:49.039 --> 00:33:52.519
<v Speaker 2>world flashes arriving from a billion light years away down

662
00:33:52.559 --> 00:33:54.079
<v Speaker 2>to the statistical noise limit.

663
00:33:54.160 --> 00:33:56.960
<v Speaker 3>It was an impeccable fit. Yeah, and its significance cannot

664
00:33:56.960 --> 00:33:59.599
<v Speaker 3>be overstated. This is the very first time in the

665
00:33:59.640 --> 00:34:04.079
<v Speaker 3>history of astronomy that general relativity has been strictly observationly

666
00:34:04.119 --> 00:34:07.200
<v Speaker 3>required to explain the mechanics of a supernova.

667
00:34:06.799 --> 00:34:09.000
<v Speaker 2>Like Curry, really the first time.

668
00:34:09.159 --> 00:34:12.440
<v Speaker 3>Yes, we use relativity constantly for black hole mergers, for

669
00:34:12.519 --> 00:34:17.039
<v Speaker 3>gravitational ways, for cosmological expansion, but supernovae have historically been

670
00:34:17.079 --> 00:34:21.760
<v Speaker 3>the domain of Newtonian physics, hydrodynamics, and nuclear physics. This

671
00:34:21.840 --> 00:34:25.079
<v Speaker 3>event unequivocally demonstrated that you cannot understand the death of

672
00:34:25.079 --> 00:34:28.880
<v Speaker 3>this specific star without evoking the severe relativistic warping of

673
00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:30.039
<v Speaker 3>space time at its core.

674
00:34:30.400 --> 00:34:33.360
<v Speaker 2>The elegance of that is just breathtaking. But I want

675
00:34:33.400 --> 00:34:36.639
<v Speaker 2>to push back again because the scientific method demands skepticism.

676
00:34:36.719 --> 00:34:40.280
<v Speaker 2>Right when you claim to have found a relativistic spacetime

677
00:34:40.360 --> 00:34:43.079
<v Speaker 2>vortex powering a supernova, you don't just publish and call

678
00:34:43.119 --> 00:34:45.800
<v Speaker 2>it a day. You have to actively try to break

679
00:34:45.840 --> 00:34:48.320
<v Speaker 2>your own model, you have to search for a simpler,

680
00:34:48.639 --> 00:34:53.639
<v Speaker 2>less exotic explanation. How aggressively did the research team test

681
00:34:53.719 --> 00:34:58.280
<v Speaker 2>alternative physical models before concluding that Einstein was the only answer.

682
00:34:58.679 --> 00:35:03.079
<v Speaker 3>Oh, they attack their own data relentlessly. Ockham's razor dictates

683
00:35:03.079 --> 00:35:07.519
<v Speaker 3>that you must exhaust all classical explanations before invoking general relativity.

684
00:35:08.320 --> 00:35:12.000
<v Speaker 3>The team spend months throwing every alternative torque mechanism they

685
00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:14.079
<v Speaker 3>could think of at the data to see if anything

686
00:35:14.079 --> 00:35:16.039
<v Speaker 3>else could produce that specific wobble.

687
00:35:16.360 --> 00:35:20.320
<v Speaker 2>What other forces could conceivably cause an accretion disk to process.

688
00:35:20.840 --> 00:35:24.079
<v Speaker 3>They initially looked at purely Newtonian effects. For example, the

689
00:35:24.079 --> 00:35:26.760
<v Speaker 3>central neutron star was slightly a blate, meaning squashed at

690
00:35:26.800 --> 00:35:29.880
<v Speaker 3>the poles due to its rapid rotation, its classical gravity

691
00:35:29.880 --> 00:35:33.800
<v Speaker 3>would be asymmetrical. Could that equatorial bulge exert a classical

692
00:35:33.800 --> 00:35:36.039
<v Speaker 3>gravitational torque and cause the disc to wobble?

693
00:35:36.280 --> 00:35:39.679
<v Speaker 2>That seems like a very reasonable, non relativistic hypothesis.

694
00:35:39.719 --> 00:35:43.360
<v Speaker 3>It is entirely reasonable, But when they ran the calculations,

695
00:35:43.840 --> 00:35:47.320
<v Speaker 3>classical Newtonian procession scales differently with the radius of the

696
00:35:47.400 --> 00:35:51.679
<v Speaker 3>disc compared to relativistic procession. The maths showed that while

697
00:35:51.679 --> 00:35:54.920
<v Speaker 3>the Newtonian bulge would cause a wobble, it would not

698
00:35:54.960 --> 00:35:58.039
<v Speaker 3>produce the specific accelerating rate of the chirp. They observed

699
00:35:58.320 --> 00:36:00.639
<v Speaker 3>it couldn't match the timing ah, so the rhythm was

700
00:36:00.639 --> 00:36:05.039
<v Speaker 3>wrong exactly. Then they moved to electromagnetic forces. We know

701
00:36:05.119 --> 00:36:08.360
<v Speaker 3>the magnetar possesses a ten to the fourteen gas magnetic field.

702
00:36:08.800 --> 00:36:12.559
<v Speaker 3>Could the magnetic field itself physically grab the ionized plasma

703
00:36:12.599 --> 00:36:14.719
<v Speaker 3>disc and twist it forcing it to process?

704
00:36:14.920 --> 00:36:17.679
<v Speaker 2>Given how strong that field is, it seems highly probable

705
00:36:17.719 --> 00:36:20.320
<v Speaker 2>that magnetic torque could push a plasma disc around.

706
00:36:20.519 --> 00:36:24.119
<v Speaker 3>Magnetic torque is a powerful force, and it absolutely interacts

707
00:36:24.159 --> 00:36:27.599
<v Speaker 3>with the disc. But again, the physics of magnetic torque

708
00:36:27.599 --> 00:36:31.000
<v Speaker 3>has a different mathematical dependency on the distance from the star.

709
00:36:31.960 --> 00:36:34.719
<v Speaker 3>A wabble driven purely by the magnetic field produced a

710
00:36:34.800 --> 00:36:37.960
<v Speaker 3>rhythm that simply did not fit the light curve. No

711
00:36:38.000 --> 00:36:41.320
<v Speaker 3>matter how they adjusted the variables for classical gravity, magnetic

712
00:36:41.360 --> 00:36:45.199
<v Speaker 3>torqu or even exotic gas collision models, the resulting simulated

713
00:36:45.280 --> 00:36:48.480
<v Speaker 3>light curves failed to reproduce the precise timing of those

714
00:36:48.519 --> 00:36:49.800
<v Speaker 3>four accelerating bumps.

715
00:36:50.079 --> 00:36:53.039
<v Speaker 2>The alternative puzzle pieces just refuse to fit the laws.

716
00:36:53.119 --> 00:36:57.199
<v Speaker 3>Yes, only one mechanism fit the data only. Einstein's lens

717
00:36:57.239 --> 00:37:01.280
<v Speaker 3>thirring procession driven by a rapidly spinning ultra dense central mass,

718
00:37:01.599 --> 00:37:03.000
<v Speaker 3>matched the timing of the chirp.

719
00:37:02.840 --> 00:37:06.840
<v Speaker 2>Perfectly, which leads to a thrilling conclusion. If general relativity

720
00:37:06.880 --> 00:37:10.599
<v Speaker 2>is the only mathematical framework that reproduces the observation, then

721
00:37:10.639 --> 00:37:14.920
<v Speaker 2>the physical parameters required by that relativistic model must be real.

722
00:37:15.639 --> 00:37:18.320
<v Speaker 2>By measuring the exact timing of the wobble, the team

723
00:37:18.440 --> 00:37:22.719
<v Speaker 2>essentially reverse engineered Einstein's equations to calculate the precise physical

724
00:37:22.760 --> 00:37:26.000
<v Speaker 2>statistics of the unseen object at the center of the debris.

725
00:37:26.599 --> 00:37:29.239
<v Speaker 2>What were the exact numbers they extracted from the space

726
00:37:29.320 --> 00:37:29.920
<v Speaker 2>time drag.

727
00:37:30.360 --> 00:37:34.639
<v Speaker 3>The derived parameters were astonishing. By quantifying exactly how fast

728
00:37:34.679 --> 00:37:36.800
<v Speaker 3>the local space time was being dragged to produce the

729
00:37:36.800 --> 00:37:40.119
<v Speaker 3>observed chirp, they calculated that the newly born neutron star

730
00:37:40.199 --> 00:37:41.960
<v Speaker 3>at the center of s N twenty twenty four to

731
00:37:42.039 --> 00:37:45.280
<v Speaker 3>five is spinning with a period of precisely four point

732
00:37:45.320 --> 00:37:46.039
<v Speaker 3>two millisecond.

733
00:37:46.119 --> 00:37:47.960
<v Speaker 2>Wait four point two milliseconds. Let me do the math

734
00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:50.119
<v Speaker 2>on that. That means this object is completing a full

735
00:37:50.199 --> 00:37:53.000
<v Speaker 2>three hundred and sixty degree rotation roughly two hundred and

736
00:37:53.039 --> 00:37:55.119
<v Speaker 2>thirty eight times every single second.

737
00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:58.599
<v Speaker 3>Correct a sphere ten miles wide containing the mass of

738
00:37:58.639 --> 00:38:01.199
<v Speaker 3>a sun rotating two two hundred and thirty eight times

739
00:38:01.239 --> 00:38:04.880
<v Speaker 3>a second. But the calculations for the magnetic field derived

740
00:38:04.920 --> 00:38:08.079
<v Speaker 3>from the spin downright required to power the overall luminosity

741
00:38:08.280 --> 00:38:12.039
<v Speaker 3>were even more extreme. The processional math and energy budget

742
00:38:12.239 --> 00:38:15.559
<v Speaker 3>require the central object to possess a magnetic field roughly

743
00:38:15.559 --> 00:38:18.320
<v Speaker 3>three hundred trillion times stronger than Earth's.

744
00:38:18.159 --> 00:38:20.400
<v Speaker 2>Three hundred trillion. Let's just sit with the magnitude of

745
00:38:20.400 --> 00:38:23.719
<v Speaker 2>that number. Earth's magnetic field is robust enough to deflect

746
00:38:23.760 --> 00:38:26.639
<v Speaker 2>the solar wind, to protect our atmosphere from being stripped

747
00:38:26.639 --> 00:38:30.039
<v Speaker 2>away into space, to align compass needles all over the globe.

748
00:38:30.159 --> 00:38:33.440
<v Speaker 2>And you take that planetary force, multiply it by three hundred.

749
00:38:33.239 --> 00:38:34.800
<v Speaker 3>Trillion, it's almost unimaginable.

750
00:38:34.920 --> 00:38:38.320
<v Speaker 2>It really is. The sheer violent electromagnetic energy required to

751
00:38:38.360 --> 00:38:41.320
<v Speaker 2>sustain a field that strong. It's a physical extreme that

752
00:38:41.360 --> 00:38:42.599
<v Speaker 2>almost defies description.

753
00:38:42.760 --> 00:38:45.519
<v Speaker 3>And crucially, both of those derived numbers, the four point

754
00:38:45.519 --> 00:38:47.960
<v Speaker 3>two millisecond spin period and the three times ten to

755
00:38:48.000 --> 00:38:52.239
<v Speaker 3>the fourteen gas magnetic field, are the absolute defining theoretical

756
00:38:52.360 --> 00:38:54.280
<v Speaker 3>characteristics of a magnetar.

757
00:38:54.519 --> 00:38:57.440
<v Speaker 2>Here's where it gets really interesting when you symplicize the

758
00:38:57.559 --> 00:39:02.079
<v Speaker 2>entire picture. The sustained super luminous energy output that defies

759
00:39:02.159 --> 00:39:05.679
<v Speaker 2>Nickel fifty six to K, the accelerating rhythmic bumps in

760
00:39:05.719 --> 00:39:10.039
<v Speaker 2>the light curve, the rigorous mathematical necessity of relativistic frame dragging,

761
00:39:10.360 --> 00:39:13.960
<v Speaker 2>and the final calculated parameters of the central object. It

762
00:39:14.039 --> 00:39:19.519
<v Speaker 2>all points to one inescapable conclusion. Alex Philippenko and Andy Howell,

763
00:39:19.599 --> 00:39:23.400
<v Speaker 2>the senior astronomers overseeing the project, stated definitively that this

764
00:39:23.519 --> 00:39:25.679
<v Speaker 2>observation is the smoking gun.

765
00:39:25.960 --> 00:39:28.199
<v Speaker 3>It is the definitive proof the field has been waiting for.

766
00:39:28.760 --> 00:39:32.599
<v Speaker 3>It ties the observational data directly to the theoretical framework. The

767
00:39:32.639 --> 00:39:36.000
<v Speaker 3>twenty ten model proposed by Kazin, Bilsden and Woosley was correct.

768
00:39:36.519 --> 00:39:38.159
<v Speaker 3>The hidden engine is no longer hidden.

769
00:39:38.280 --> 00:39:40.079
<v Speaker 2>The magic trick is revealed exactly.

770
00:39:40.480 --> 00:39:43.320
<v Speaker 3>The relativistic chirp in the supernova signal was the physical

771
00:39:43.320 --> 00:39:46.199
<v Speaker 3>equivalent of pulling back the plasma curtain and revealing the

772
00:39:46.239 --> 00:39:50.960
<v Speaker 3>exact machinery the magic trick. Josephera's analytical work demonstrated beyond

773
00:39:50.960 --> 00:39:53.599
<v Speaker 3>a shadow of a doubt that a magnetar was birthed

774
00:39:53.639 --> 00:39:56.320
<v Speaker 3>in the core of this superlumited supernova and that its

775
00:39:56.400 --> 00:39:59.480
<v Speaker 3>furious spin in immense magnetic field are exactly what kept

776
00:39:59.480 --> 00:40:00.519
<v Speaker 3>the explosion glowing.

777
00:40:00.760 --> 00:40:04.119
<v Speaker 2>It's just a triumphant moment for theoretical physics. You derive

778
00:40:04.119 --> 00:40:07.239
<v Speaker 2>a model on a chalkboard, you wait sixteen years, and

779
00:40:07.280 --> 00:40:11.239
<v Speaker 2>the universe eventually provides the exact receipts. But as with

780
00:40:11.320 --> 00:40:15.079
<v Speaker 2>all great paradigm shifts and science, answering one massive question

781
00:40:15.239 --> 00:40:18.880
<v Speaker 2>immediately opens the door to a dozen new complications. We

782
00:40:18.960 --> 00:40:21.920
<v Speaker 2>have definitively solved the mystery of the central engine for

783
00:40:22.039 --> 00:40:24.679
<v Speaker 2>s N twenty twenty four A five, but we have

784
00:40:24.719 --> 00:40:28.360
<v Speaker 2>to look at the broader landscape of transient astronomy. Does

785
00:40:28.400 --> 00:40:31.480
<v Speaker 2>the single smoking gun mean the case is permanently closed.

786
00:40:31.880 --> 00:40:36.239
<v Speaker 2>Does a newborn magnetar explain every single superluminous supernova we've

787
00:40:36.239 --> 00:40:37.079
<v Speaker 2>ever cataloged.

788
00:40:37.480 --> 00:40:40.360
<v Speaker 3>No, and the researchers involved are very careful to delineate

789
00:40:40.400 --> 00:40:44.320
<v Speaker 3>that the universe is incredibly diverse, and astrophysical phenomena often

790
00:40:44.320 --> 00:40:48.199
<v Speaker 3>exhibit what we call degeneracy, meaning multiple different physical mechanisms

791
00:40:48.199 --> 00:40:50.440
<v Speaker 3>can produce a similar observational.

792
00:40:49.840 --> 00:40:52.119
<v Speaker 2>Result, so it could be different engines for different stars.

793
00:40:52.400 --> 00:40:57.079
<v Speaker 3>Precisely, the magnetar model is now proven reality for SN

794
00:40:57.119 --> 00:40:59.800
<v Speaker 3>twenty twenty four A five, and it likely accounts for

795
00:40:59.840 --> 00:41:04.400
<v Speaker 3>a significant majority of Type I hydrogen poor superluminous events,

796
00:41:05.159 --> 00:41:08.039
<v Speaker 3>but it does not universally explain all of them. There

797
00:41:08.079 --> 00:41:11.079
<v Speaker 3>are alternative engines that must be applied to different subclasses

798
00:41:11.079 --> 00:41:11.920
<v Speaker 3>of supernovae.

799
00:41:12.639 --> 00:41:16.039
<v Speaker 2>What other invisible mechanisms could be generating that much energy?

800
00:41:16.559 --> 00:41:21.039
<v Speaker 3>We discussed circumstellar interaction earlier, the supernova shockwave crashing into

801
00:41:21.079 --> 00:41:24.280
<v Speaker 3>pre existing shells of gas. While we mathematically prove that

802
00:41:24.320 --> 00:41:27.320
<v Speaker 3>the couldn't explain the four accelerating bumps in this specific event,

803
00:41:27.639 --> 00:41:31.119
<v Speaker 3>there's a whole class of type two superluminous supernovae which

804
00:41:31.159 --> 00:41:33.960
<v Speaker 3>are rich in hydrogen, where the sustained brightness is almost

805
00:41:33.960 --> 00:41:35.679
<v Speaker 3>certainly powered by that exact mechanism.

806
00:41:35.760 --> 00:41:36.320
<v Speaker 2>Ah okay.

807
00:41:36.480 --> 00:41:39.239
<v Speaker 3>In those cases, the progenitor star was likely a luminous

808
00:41:39.239 --> 00:41:42.239
<v Speaker 3>blue variable that shed massive amounts of material before dying.

809
00:41:42.800 --> 00:41:46.199
<v Speaker 3>The engine isn't a spinning magnetic core. It's the continuous

810
00:41:46.280 --> 00:41:49.840
<v Speaker 3>kinetic friction of the debris field plowing into an incredibly dense,

811
00:41:49.880 --> 00:41:51.280
<v Speaker 3>extended nebula.

812
00:41:51.039 --> 00:41:53.760
<v Speaker 2>So kinetic shockwaves are still a valid engine for certain

813
00:41:53.800 --> 00:41:57.480
<v Speaker 2>types of explosions. Are there any other theoretical engines that

814
00:41:57.679 --> 00:42:01.360
<v Speaker 2>utilize a central compact object, but perhaps not a magnetar.

815
00:42:01.639 --> 00:42:06.000
<v Speaker 3>Yes. Dan Kaysen, the theorist who helped pioneer the magnetar model,

816
00:42:06.280 --> 00:42:10.920
<v Speaker 3>has heavily researched another fascinating and perhaps even more violent possibility,

817
00:42:11.239 --> 00:42:12.960
<v Speaker 3>known as the collapser model.

818
00:42:13.039 --> 00:42:15.079
<v Speaker 2>The collapsor model right, what if.

819
00:42:14.960 --> 00:42:18.280
<v Speaker 3>The progenitor star is so exceptionally massive that when its

820
00:42:18.320 --> 00:42:22.119
<v Speaker 3>iron core collapses, the crush of gravity completely overpowers the

821
00:42:22.119 --> 00:42:26.000
<v Speaker 3>neutron degeneracy pressure. The core doesn't stop in a neutron star,

822
00:42:26.480 --> 00:42:28.639
<v Speaker 3>it collapses directly into a black hole.

823
00:42:28.599 --> 00:42:31.440
<v Speaker 2>A newborn black hole operating at the exact center of

824
00:42:31.440 --> 00:42:32.119
<v Speaker 2>the supernova.

825
00:42:32.239 --> 00:42:35.400
<v Speaker 3>Exactly in the collapser scenario. You also have massive amounts

826
00:42:35.440 --> 00:42:38.760
<v Speaker 3>of stellar material falling back inward. That material forms a

827
00:42:38.800 --> 00:42:41.679
<v Speaker 3>dense accretion disc swirling around the newly formed black hole.

828
00:42:41.960 --> 00:42:44.960
<v Speaker 3>The friction in that disc generates immense heat, and the

829
00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:48.280
<v Speaker 3>magnetic fields within the disc can launch relativistic jets of

830
00:42:48.400 --> 00:42:51.960
<v Speaker 3>energy outward, piercing through the star and powering a superluminous

831
00:42:52.000 --> 00:42:56.480
<v Speaker 3>explosion and crucially, a spinning black hole also drags spacetime.

832
00:42:56.800 --> 00:43:00.000
<v Speaker 2>Oh so a tilted accretion disc around a black hole

833
00:43:00.119 --> 00:43:03.079
<v Speaker 2>hole would also undergo lens third precession.

834
00:43:03.400 --> 00:43:06.880
<v Speaker 3>Yes, it would also wobble, and it could theoretically produce

835
00:43:06.960 --> 00:43:10.400
<v Speaker 3>similar rhythmic bumps in a light curve. However, because a

836
00:43:10.440 --> 00:43:13.480
<v Speaker 3>black hole is more massive than a neutron star, the

837
00:43:13.559 --> 00:43:16.760
<v Speaker 3>processional mathematics would be different. The timing of the chirp

838
00:43:16.840 --> 00:43:18.119
<v Speaker 3>would have a different signature.

839
00:43:18.239 --> 00:43:20.800
<v Speaker 2>So the engine could be a spinning magnetar or it

840
00:43:20.840 --> 00:43:24.039
<v Speaker 2>could be a baby black hole voraciously consuming its own

841
00:43:24.119 --> 00:43:26.639
<v Speaker 2>stellar debris, and the only way to tell them apart

842
00:43:26.760 --> 00:43:29.239
<v Speaker 2>is to analyze the precise rhythm of the wobble.

843
00:43:29.559 --> 00:43:32.559
<v Speaker 3>That is exactly where the field is heading. The landscape

844
00:43:32.559 --> 00:43:35.920
<v Speaker 3>of astrophysics has fundamentally shifted because of this single observation.

845
00:43:36.159 --> 00:43:38.960
<v Speaker 3>Prior to SN twenty twenty four five, there was a

846
00:43:39.000 --> 00:43:42.920
<v Speaker 3>heavy reliance on circumstellar gas collisions to explain many of

847
00:43:42.920 --> 00:43:47.519
<v Speaker 3>these ultrobraate transients. But as Filipenko noted, this discovery proves

848
00:43:47.559 --> 00:43:50.159
<v Speaker 3>that central engines account for a much larger fraction of

849
00:43:50.199 --> 00:43:53.039
<v Speaker 3>these events than previously accepted. That makes sense, Yeah, The

850
00:43:53.079 --> 00:43:56.320
<v Speaker 3>magnetar model has graduated from an elegant hypothesis to a

851
00:43:56.400 --> 00:43:58.719
<v Speaker 3>confirmed operational mechanism.

852
00:43:58.440 --> 00:44:00.400
<v Speaker 2>And it feels like we are stack ending on the

853
00:44:00.440 --> 00:44:04.639
<v Speaker 2>precipice of a massive explosion in data. If you know

854
00:44:04.760 --> 00:44:06.639
<v Speaker 2>exactly what to look for, if you know that you

855
00:44:06.679 --> 00:44:10.000
<v Speaker 2>need to listen for a relativistic chirp to identify an engine,

856
00:44:10.519 --> 00:44:13.320
<v Speaker 2>you can start tuning your algorithms to find it. And

857
00:44:13.360 --> 00:44:16.559
<v Speaker 2>the timing for this realization is perfect because the astronomical

858
00:44:16.559 --> 00:44:20.599
<v Speaker 2>community is about to bring some incredible new observational tools online.

859
00:44:20.960 --> 00:44:24.079
<v Speaker 2>I'm thinking specifically of the Veric Reuben Observatory.

860
00:44:24.119 --> 00:44:24.239
<v Speaker 1>Oh.

861
00:44:24.320 --> 00:44:28.800
<v Speaker 3>Absolutely. The Veric Ruben Observatory is poised to fundamentally revolutionize

862
00:44:28.800 --> 00:44:32.760
<v Speaker 3>time domain astronomy. Currently under construction in Chile, it is

863
00:44:32.840 --> 00:44:35.480
<v Speaker 3>designed to conduct the Legacy Survey of Space and Time,

864
00:44:35.880 --> 00:44:39.679
<v Speaker 3>which is an unprecedented decade long optical survey. It features

865
00:44:39.679 --> 00:44:42.400
<v Speaker 3>an eight point four meters mirror and a three two

866
00:44:42.480 --> 00:44:45.199
<v Speaker 3>hundred megapixel camera, giving it an immense field of.

867
00:44:45.239 --> 00:44:47.679
<v Speaker 2>View two hundred megapixels. That's absurd.

868
00:44:47.760 --> 00:44:50.079
<v Speaker 3>It is it will be able to photograph the entire

869
00:44:50.159 --> 00:44:52.320
<v Speaker 3>visible southern sky every few nights.

870
00:44:52.199 --> 00:44:54.960
<v Speaker 2>Which means it isn't just taking deep space portraits. It

871
00:44:55.039 --> 00:44:58.679
<v Speaker 2>is essentially filming a high resolution movie of the cosmos.

872
00:44:58.960 --> 00:45:01.880
<v Speaker 2>It is going to catch everything that flashes, moves, or

873
00:45:02.000 --> 00:45:03.079
<v Speaker 2>changes brightness.

874
00:45:03.239 --> 00:45:06.360
<v Speaker 3>The data volume will be staggering. The sheer number of

875
00:45:06.360 --> 00:45:10.800
<v Speaker 3>transient events, things that appear and disappear, like supernovae, tidal

876
00:45:10.840 --> 00:45:15.119
<v Speaker 3>disruption events, and killinova that the Ruben Observatory will detect

877
00:45:15.280 --> 00:45:18.719
<v Speaker 3>will require entirely new machine learning pipelines to process. I

878
00:45:18.719 --> 00:45:22.599
<v Speaker 3>can imagine right now humanity discovers a few thousand supernova

879
00:45:22.679 --> 00:45:26.360
<v Speaker 3>a year. The Ruben Observatory is expected to flag millions

880
00:45:26.360 --> 00:45:27.719
<v Speaker 3>of transients every.

881
00:45:27.440 --> 00:45:31.239
<v Speaker 2>Single year millions, and buried in those massive data sets

882
00:45:31.280 --> 00:45:36.000
<v Speaker 2>will undoubtedly be hundreds, perhaps thousands of super luminous supernovae.

883
00:45:36.280 --> 00:45:38.679
<v Speaker 2>And because Reuben will be imaging the sky so frequently,

884
00:45:39.000 --> 00:45:42.920
<v Speaker 2>we won't just get partial snapshots. We will have incredibly detailed,

885
00:45:43.000 --> 00:45:47.239
<v Speaker 2>high resolution, continuous light curves for a vast population of them.

886
00:45:47.320 --> 00:45:50.880
<v Speaker 3>That is the crucial point. Joseph anticipates that once the

887
00:45:50.920 --> 00:45:54.480
<v Speaker 3>Ruben Observatory is operational, astronomers are going to discover many,

888
00:45:54.480 --> 00:45:57.679
<v Speaker 3>many more of these chirping supernovae. We are going to

889
00:45:57.679 --> 00:46:01.559
<v Speaker 3>transition from studying single rare events to performing population.

890
00:46:01.159 --> 00:46:03.719
<v Speaker 2>Statistics, which changes everything entirely.

891
00:46:04.360 --> 00:46:07.360
<v Speaker 3>We will be able to categorize them, measure their spin rates,

892
00:46:07.480 --> 00:46:12.039
<v Speaker 3>calculate their magnetic fields, and definitively distinguish the magnetar engines

893
00:46:12.079 --> 00:46:15.000
<v Speaker 3>from the black hole collaps or engines based purely on

894
00:46:15.039 --> 00:46:19.039
<v Speaker 3>the nuanced mathematics of their spacetime wobbles. We are opening

895
00:46:19.119 --> 00:46:22.440
<v Speaker 3>up a whole new sub field of observational astrophysics. We

896
00:46:22.480 --> 00:46:26.639
<v Speaker 3>are moving from simply documenting the glow of stellar explosions

897
00:46:27.000 --> 00:46:31.239
<v Speaker 3>to actively reverse engineering the relativistic engines hidden inside them.

898
00:46:31.400 --> 00:46:33.719
<v Speaker 2>It is staggering to look back at the arc of

899
00:46:33.760 --> 00:46:36.719
<v Speaker 2>this scientific journey. Just to summarize the sheer scale of

900
00:46:36.719 --> 00:46:40.119
<v Speaker 2>what we've discussed today, we started with a persistent sixteen

901
00:46:40.199 --> 00:46:43.480
<v Speaker 2>year anomaly where the thermodynamic math of dying stars refused

902
00:46:43.519 --> 00:46:47.519
<v Speaker 2>to balance. We explored how theoretical physicists essentially invented an

903
00:46:47.559 --> 00:46:52.639
<v Speaker 2>invisible magic trick, a spinning magnetic dynamo to balance the equations.

904
00:46:52.119 --> 00:46:53.440
<v Speaker 3>The trick that turned out to be real.

905
00:46:53.800 --> 00:46:57.480
<v Speaker 2>Right. We then cast our gaze across one billion light

906
00:46:57.559 --> 00:47:01.719
<v Speaker 2>years of intergalactic space, utilizing a global network of robotic

907
00:47:01.800 --> 00:47:05.679
<v Speaker 2>telescopes to track a single explosion for two hundred days

908
00:47:06.159 --> 00:47:08.840
<v Speaker 2>only to find a light curve that chirped, and to

909
00:47:08.880 --> 00:47:11.599
<v Speaker 2>finally decode that chirp, we had to rely on Albert

910
00:47:11.639 --> 00:47:16.599
<v Speaker 2>Einstein's profound century old realization that a spinning city sized,

911
00:47:16.679 --> 00:47:20.079
<v Speaker 2>ultra dense core can physically grab the fabric of space

912
00:47:20.119 --> 00:47:23.679
<v Speaker 2>and time and drag it into a wobbling cosmic lighthouse.

913
00:47:24.039 --> 00:47:26.280
<v Speaker 3>It is a profound testament to both the power of

914
00:47:26.360 --> 00:47:30.639
<v Speaker 3>human curiosity and the rigorous, predictive power of the scientific method.

915
00:47:31.000 --> 00:47:33.360
<v Speaker 3>But yeah, I think the most poignant and humbling takeaway

916
00:47:33.400 --> 00:47:36.639
<v Speaker 3>comes directly from Joseph Fara, the researcher who first recognized

917
00:47:36.639 --> 00:47:38.760
<v Speaker 3>the significance of the chirp. What did he say when

918
00:47:38.800 --> 00:47:41.280
<v Speaker 3>reflecting on the implications of this discovery. He said, it's

919
00:47:41.280 --> 00:47:43.119
<v Speaker 3>the universe telling us, out loud and in our face

920
00:47:43.119 --> 00:47:45.079
<v Speaker 3>that we don't fully understand it yet, and challenging us

921
00:47:45.079 --> 00:47:45.719
<v Speaker 3>to explain it.

922
00:47:45.920 --> 00:47:49.679
<v Speaker 2>Oh. I love that perspective, the universe throwing down a gauntlet.

923
00:47:49.840 --> 00:47:52.800
<v Speaker 2>It's a constant reminder that no matter how sophisticated our

924
00:47:52.840 --> 00:47:56.480
<v Speaker 2>models become, the cosmos is always capable of surprising us.

925
00:47:56.800 --> 00:48:00.119
<v Speaker 2>It is always ready to reveal engines and relativistic mechan

926
00:48:00.559 --> 00:48:04.079
<v Speaker 2>that are far more complex, beautiful, and violent than our

927
00:48:04.119 --> 00:48:05.400
<v Speaker 2>initial theories imagine.

928
00:48:05.440 --> 00:48:08.480
<v Speaker 3>It forces humility upon the field, but it also drives

929
00:48:08.519 --> 00:48:12.639
<v Speaker 3>relentless progress. Every time we solve one of these macroscopic mysteries,

930
00:48:12.880 --> 00:48:15.960
<v Speaker 3>we peel back a layer of reality, only to find deeper,

931
00:48:16.039 --> 00:48:18.000
<v Speaker 3>more intricate physics operating.

932
00:48:17.719 --> 00:48:19.360
<v Speaker 2>Underneath layers within layers.

933
00:48:19.440 --> 00:48:22.480
<v Speaker 3>Exactly the fact of the space time dragging predicted by

934
00:48:22.480 --> 00:48:26.119
<v Speaker 3>Einstein on a talkboard in nineteen eighteen, is strictly required

935
00:48:26.119 --> 00:48:28.519
<v Speaker 3>to understand the rhythmic flashing of a dying star a

936
00:48:28.519 --> 00:48:31.480
<v Speaker 3>billion light years away in twenty twenty four. It demonstrates

937
00:48:31.480 --> 00:48:33.800
<v Speaker 3>that the underlying rules of the universe are profoundly and

938
00:48:33.800 --> 00:48:34.960
<v Speaker 3>beautifully interconnected.

939
00:48:35.280 --> 00:48:37.880
<v Speaker 2>So what does this all mean for you? The next

940
00:48:37.880 --> 00:48:40.360
<v Speaker 2>time you step outside on a clear, dark night. I

941
00:48:40.440 --> 00:48:42.719
<v Speaker 2>want you to look up at the stars, but don't

942
00:48:42.760 --> 00:48:44.719
<v Speaker 2>just focus on the points of light, look at the

943
00:48:44.840 --> 00:48:48.320
<v Speaker 2>vast dark patches of space between them, and consider this

944
00:48:48.400 --> 00:48:52.199
<v Speaker 2>final thought. If these hidden magnetars are spinning two hundred

945
00:48:52.199 --> 00:48:55.760
<v Speaker 2>times a second and violently dragging the geometry of space time,

946
00:48:56.159 --> 00:48:59.639
<v Speaker 2>they aren't just emitting light. They are likely generating intense

947
00:48:59.719 --> 00:49:01.360
<v Speaker 2>rips and gravity itself.

948
00:49:01.400 --> 00:49:02.920
<v Speaker 3>Oh, gravitational waves, Yes.

949
00:49:02.920 --> 00:49:05.719
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, The next generation of gravitational wave detectors might not

950
00:49:05.800 --> 00:49:08.840
<v Speaker 2>just see the afterglow of these explosions. We might actually

951
00:49:08.840 --> 00:49:11.280
<v Speaker 2>be able to feel the fabric of the universe vibrate

952
00:49:11.719 --> 00:49:15.039
<v Speaker 2>as that infant star takes its first furious spin in

953
00:49:15.079 --> 00:49:15.679
<v Speaker 2>the dark.

954
00:49:15.719 --> 00:49:17.360
<v Speaker 3>A fascinating prospect to consider

955
00:49:17.559 --> 00:49:19.639
<v Speaker 2>Just waiting for us to finally learn how to listen