Misbehaving pulsar will show us how they tick

• Autores: Sarah Scoles
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3028, 2015, pág. 10
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Not all of the universe's clocks tick reliably. After decades of stability, a fast-rotating baby pulsar called B0540-69 just slammed on its brakes. It's the brightest and youngest one they've ever seen shift this way, and its unpredictable behavior will help them figure out what makes pulsars tick. Pulsars are the dense neutron stars left after supernovas. They blast beams of radiation from their poles, which sweep past Earth like the rays from a lighthouse as they rotate. Many spin and wind down at such reliable rates that scientists consider them "cosmic clocks", using them to test theories like general relativity