Rising like a phoenix from the ashes, a pulsar is a very dense neutron star born from the remains of dead supernovae. Gravitational pulls and electromagnetic radiation play around these pulsars, which exhibit a far greater density than their size would suggest. They also rotate very fast, and on March 28, an international body of scientists has found evidence to suggest that this rotation causes a field powerful enough to clear away the detritus from nuclear explosions in outer space.

After a supernova collapses upon itself, it packs down into a mass about 12 and a half miles in diameter. These new pulsars emit powerful light beams and as it rotates, those beams appear as regular pulses. An isolated pulsar emits light with several seconds between flashes, but some can spin up to hundreds or even thousands of times faster. We know the latter as the millisecond pulsars, which are more precise than even atomic clocks.

According to theoretical models, the millisecond pulsars occur when they feed on matter from a companion star. These X-ray flares emit radiation from nuclear reactions occurring when the organic matter falls onto a pulsar.

The researchers associated a transient bright X-ray flare with a millisecond pulsar known as PSR J1824-2452I. This pulsar rotates about 254 times per second as measured in radio light. Later observations also showed that rate was matched by variations in the X-ray emissions.

However, the researchers found that the millisecond pulsar emitted no radio light during the X-ray outbursts. According to the accretion model, as matter falls in, the normal pulsations will be disrupted by nuclear reactions on the pulsar’s surface. The model coincides with what the researchers saw; however, they caution that other phenomena could also have caused lack of radio pulsations.

The gravity of pulsar PSR J1824-2452I stripped gas from its companion star, and once enough of that gas built up, the high temperatures on the pulsar’s surface caused a reaction, emitting a huge burst of X-ray light, which occurred on March 28. Over the next month, this X-ray emission faded until the millisecond pulsar activity restarted, which happened sometime in May.

The research team saw a quick transition between accretion and normal rotation. The researchers concluded that this field possesses enough power to clear away the detritus from a nuclear explosion and then continue regular pulsar activity. The speed of transition after the burst could also offer important insights into the pulsar’s magnetic field.