Strongest magnetic field in universe directly detected by X-ray space observatory

The Insight-HXMT team has performed extensive observations of the accreting X-ray pulsar GRO J1008-57 and has discovered a magnetic field of ~1 billion Tesla on the surface of the neutron star. This is the strongest magnetic field conclusively detected in the universe.

Scientists studied the X-ray pulsar GRO J1008-57 detected by Insight-HXMT during its outburst in August 2017. They discovered for the first time a cyclotron resonant scattering feature (CRSF) at 90 keV at a significance level of > 20σ. (Note that the scientific community confirms a new scientific discovery when its significance level is larger than 5σ.)

According to theoretical calculations, the magnetic field that corresponds to this CRSF is up to 1 billion Tesla, which is tens of millions of times stronger than what can be generated in Earth laboratories.

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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Neutron stars have the strongest magnetic fields in the universe. Neutron star X-ray binaries are systems consisting of a neutron star and a normal stellar companion.

The neutron star accretes matter and forms a surrounding accretion disk. If the magnetic field is strong, the accreted matter is channeled by magnetic lines onto the surface of the neutron star, resulting in X-ray radiations.

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This animation illustrates how an old pulsar in a binary system can be reactivated -- and sped up to a millisecond spin -- by accreting gas from its companion star.

A pulsar is a rapidly rotating neutron star that emits pulses of radiation (such as X-rays and radio waves) at regular intervals. A millisecond pulsar is one with a rotational period between 1 and 10 milliseconds, or from 60,000 to 6,000 revolutions per minute. Pulsars form in supernova explosions.