Doctoral research uncovers unknown radio signals
Leon Houben developed software to filter human interference from old telescope data.
Astronomer Leon Houben has identified two previously undetected radio signals in data from radio telescopes. His doctoral research also points to more weak signals in the Milky Way whose origin is not yet clear.
Houben completed his PhD at Radboud University at the end of September, researching short-lived signals in the radio sky. For this, he analysed large quantities of archived data from the 100-metre radio telescope in Effelsberg and from LOFAR.
An important part of the work was distinguishing signals from space from human interference. Mobile phones, radar and other technological sources can disrupt radio measurements. Houben developed software that attempts to remove such interference and reports possible astronomical signals.
After this processing, two strong signals remained that had not previously been found, according to Radboud. One signal probably comes from the Milky Way and is provisionally interpreted as a pulsar, a rapidly rotating neutron star. The other appears to come from outside the Milky Way and is presumably interpreted as a fast radio burst.
Fast radio bursts are extremely short bursts of radio radiation. Astronomers do not yet know precisely which processes cause them. The signals from Houben’s research therefore provide possible new targets for follow-up research, but do not offer a conclusive explanation for the phenomenon.
Using the same software, Houben also found many much weaker bursts in the Milky Way for which there is still no explanation. The larger number of weak signals near the Milky Way may indicate that more unknown sources are located there. This is an indication from the data, not a proven inventory of all sources.
The university presents the work as doctoral research. The sources consulted report no independent replication of all the findings. New and more powerful radio telescopes, including future instruments from the Square Kilometre Array, could help measure the signals again and establish their origin more accurately.
Houben’s PhD received extra attention because, after a fall during mountaineering training, he had to relearn a large part of his knowledge and memories. According to Radboud, he then resumed his research and completed his doctoral programme. That personal story changes nothing about the provisional scientific status of the results.
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The scientific claims are based on university research information and a public preprint about the search method. The text makes clear that this is doctoral research and that follow-up measurements are needed.
- confirmed Houben completed his PhD at Radboud University on radio astronomy research. — The university describes his PhD and research. source
- confirmed He used data from Effelsberg and LOFAR. — This is stated in the university’s research description. source
- confirmed Two previously undetected radio signals were identified. — Radboud describes two new astrophysical sources. source
- confirmed One signal is probably a pulsar and another is presumably a fast radio burst. — The university source uses these provisional interpretations. source
- uncertain The findings have not yet been independently replicated. — The sources consulted report no replication; this is not evidence that no follow-up research exists anywhere. source
Editor's note
The findings come from doctoral research and university research communications. The classifications ‘probably a pulsar’ and ‘presumably a fast radio burst’ are not described as definitive identifications.Sources
- Researcher discovers mysterious signals within our Milky Way — Radboud Universiteit
- In Search of That Which Was Never Lost — Radboud Universiteit
- The Northern High Time Resolution Universe pulsar survey: III — arXiv
More on this in Dutch media
- NRC — „sterrenkunde radioastronomie”
- NU.nl — „sterrenkunde radioastronomie”
- De Telegraaf — „sterrenkunde radioastronomie”