Seeing the "Heartbeat" of the Universe – A Conversation with the Shaw Prize Winner in Astronomy

China News Service, Hong Kong, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- Seeing the "heartbeat" of the universe -- a conversation with the winner of the Shaw Prize in Astronomy

China News Service reporter Dai Xiaolu

Scientists Matthew Bailes, Duncan Lorimer and Maura McLaughlin, the 2023 winners of the Shaw Prize in Astronomy, were honoured for their discovery of fast bursts of radio waves.

The winners of the 2023 Shaw Prize in Astronomy Duncan Lorimer, Mora McLaughlin and Matthew Bales (from left to right) are interviewed by reporters. Photo by China News Service reporter Dai Xiaolu

In November this year, they came to Hong Kong from Australia and the United States respectively to attend the Shaw Prize Presentation Ceremony. The reporter wondered, how did Lorimer and Michael Laughlin, who teach at West Virginia University in the United States, but Bales is the director of the Australian Research Council's (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery? Bales responded to reporters, saying, "I'm thrilled to be able to win the award with like-minded students. ”

Lorimer took over the topic, "Actually, Bells is one of the reasons why I became an astronomer, in a person's life, there will always be such a moment, that is, when you meet such a person, he will inspire you, lead you to push the door of ideals, for me, Bales is this person." ”

It turned out that Bales used to be Lorimer's teacher. At that time, Bales was a postdoctoral researcher at the Dall River Observatory in the United Kingdom, where he supervised the thesis of Lorimer, who was a master's student at the time. More than 30 years later, the teachers and students of the past have become the research partners of today.

Another winner, Mike Laughlin, is Lorimer's wife. Lorimer laughs and says that he met his wife because they were both interested in pulsars, "and if she hadn't written the code, there wouldn't have been these projects." ”

McLaughlin recalls a scene. In a paper published in 2007, they described the first fast radio burst. "When I first saw the image, it was unlike anything I'd seen before, it was very bright, brighter than a pulsar should be, and the dispersion was very high, indicating that it was coming from a farther away than a pulsar."

A fast radio burst is a fleeting and random burst of radio waves that emits dazzling flashes of light in the sky, and the burst of radio energy is like the heart of the universe beating for a moment. But because of their extremely short duration, usually only a few milliseconds, it is very difficult to catch them.

"To be honest, I didn't think it could be true at first." Over the course of the next week, we noticed more characteristics of the signal and found that it did not look like RF interference. They realized that this should be some kind of new source of astronomical objects. The trio immediately decided to publish a paper together to help more astronomers better understand the universe and thus delve deeper into the early universe.

After the paper was published, it attracted many doubts from scientists, and Bales even wanted to retract the relevant statement at one point. But Lorimer was quite insistent, "No, we have to hold on, this may be a new discovery, and we can't waste this opportunity." ”

Years later, in 2014, scientists used Puerto Rico's giant radio parabolic antenna to observe a fast radio burst again, confirming the trio's observations. McLaughlin admits that "Lorimer's self-confidence and persistence were key to moving research forward." ”

"It was the same with this award," Michael Laughlin remembers receiving the winning email over the weekend, "and I was upstairs and Lorimer yelled and ran upstairs for me to open the mailbox, and I started to think it was a prank, and I read it several times before I was sure it was true." ”

Bales didn't learn about the award until shortly before the announcement of the roster, "I came back from the meeting and saw Lorimer's message, and he used five exclamation points. ”

Was winning the Shaw Prize, considered the "Nobel Prize of the East", the pinnacle of their careers? "We have more work to do." Michael Laughlin replied to reporters that it is important to involve more young people in scientific research, which may produce future Shaw laureates. (ENDS)