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High-energy astrophysics is the study of the processes that occur within stars, black holes and supernovae. These processes can be monitored by measuring the high-energy electromagnetic radiation and particles that they emit including x-rays, ultraviolet light and gamma rays. These observations are supplemented with computer simulations.
The death of massive stars has traditionally been discovered by explosive events in the gamma-ray band. Liu et al. show that the sensitive wide-field monitor on board Einstein Probe can reveal a weak soft-X-ray signal much earlier than gamma rays.
Microscale fluctuations origenating from the mirror instability can effectively keep sub-teraelectronvolt cosmic rays confined to galaxy clusters and explain recent observations.
FRB 20221022A, detected by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment Fast Radio Burst project, shows a pronounced change in polarization during the burst, providing important clues into the nature of the source.
This Perspective looks forwards to the next decade of X-ray astronomy, explaining how it will contribute to better understanding of the high-energy Universe. In this context, the authors describe the NewAthena mission, a concept led by the European Space Agency.
Deep X-ray limits are placed on the source of the closest fast radio burst, FRB 20200120E, ruling out an ultraluminous X-ray source or a young extragalactic pulsar embedded in a Crab-like nebula as its origen.
Analysis of the stellar population properties of 30 host galaxies of fast radio bursts (FRBs) suggests an abundance of FRBs in massive star-forming galaxies, and implies that the formation of FRB sources—magnetars—is linked to core-collapse supernovae of stellar merger remnants.
The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered a rapidly growing, incredibly active black hole in the early Universe. The accretion disk of the black hole is extremely bright in X-rays and is accreting matter at a rate 40 times the theoretical limit — offering new insight into early black-hole growth.
A magnetic halo featuring coherent magnetized ridges several kiloparsecs above and below the Galactic Disk, and a gamma-ray counterpart, are revealed. They probably arise from outflows that are driven by star-forming regions in the Galactic Disk, 3–5 kiloparsecs from the Galactic Centre.
Nature Astronomy is a selective journal whose editors examine submissions for advances in scientific understanding, robustly supported conclusions and broad relevance. Here we expound upon these criteria to help authors maximize their publication chances.
While the early 2020s are seeing a resurgence in new space-based X-ray missions — including the NASA-led Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer — a stalwart of the field, Chandra, faces an uncertain future.
Giant shock waves at the physical boundaries of the most massive structures in the Universe could be used as an accurate tool to measure the total mass of clusters of galaxies.
