A theoretical astrophysicist from the University of Kansas, Mikhail Medvedev, has potentially solved a nearly two-decade-old mystery regarding the “zebra” pattern seen in high-frequency radio pulses from the Crab Nebula. In his new study, Medvedev used observational data from the Crab Pulsar and applied wave optics to measure the density of the pulsar’s plasma—a gas of charged particles (electrons and positrons). By analyzing the fringe pattern in the electromagnetic pulses, he developed a method to gauge the plasma density, providing insights into this long-standing astronomical puzzle.
The enigma of the Crab Nebula’s ‘zebra’ pattern
A nearly two-decade-old mystery solved
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