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Starquakes are one proposed way to trigger fast radio bursts (FRBs), but the evidence does not show that they caused any observed burst. Astronomers have confirmed that a Galactic magnetar—a highly magnetic neutron star—can emit an FRB-like radio flash. How that flash was generated, and whether a crustal quake was involved, remain open questions.
What are starquakes?
A neutron star is the compact remnant left when a massive star collapses. It packs a great deal of mass into a small object and can rotate rapidly. A magnetar is a neutron star with an especially powerful magnetic field.
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In a starquake model, a sudden rearrangement in a neutron star’s crust or interior changes the stresses in the star. The event is not an earthquake on a rocky surface like Earth’s: it takes place in matter under conditions that cannot be reproduced in an ordinary laboratory. The proposed rearrangement could affect the star’s rotation, its magnetic field, or the environment around it.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsWhat is a pulsar glitch?
A pulsar glitch is an abrupt change in a neutron star’s measured rotation. It is an observed change, not by itself an explanation of what happened inside the star. A starquake is one possible interpretation of a glitch, but a timing change alone does not establish that the crust fractured or that a quake produced a radio burst.
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That distinction matters because a glitch and an FRB occurring near one another in time can point to a possible connection without proving that one caused the other.
Can starquakes cause fast radio bursts?
They could, according to one proposed scenario. A quake might disturb a magnetar’s crust or magnetic environment, helping trigger a burst of radio emission. But the detailed process that turns such a disturbance into a brief, powerful radio flash has not been established. The quake explanation is a hypothesis, not a confirmed account of FRB production.
FRBs are short-lived radio transients; the bursts at issue here last milliseconds. Their physical origins remain unresolved. Evidence that a magnetar can produce an FRB is stronger than evidence for any particular trigger inside that magnetar.
What is FRB 200428?
On 28 April 2020, astronomers detected FRB 200428 from the Galactic magnetar SGR 1935+2154, alongside an X-ray burst. In their 2020 Nature paper, Bochenek and colleagues reported that the burst’s isotropic-equivalent energy was about 4 × 10³ times that of any Crab pulsar radio pulse previously observed on similar timescales. That comparison describes the reported energy relative to those pulses; it does not identify the burst’s trigger.
The radio and X-ray coincidence supports the conclusion that active magnetars can produce FRBs and favors models in which magnetar bursts or giant flares power the radio emission. It does not demonstrate that a starquake occurred or caused FRB 200428. The observation establishes an important connection between magnetars and at least some FRBs, not a universal origin for all fast radio bursts.
Do glitches provide evidence for a quake trigger?
A later study reported two spin-up glitches in SGR 1935+2154 around an FRB observed in October 2022. The authors discussed possible links among the star’s crust, its magnetosphere, changes in spin, and radio emission. They also stated that the FRB-generation mechanism remains unclear. The timing is suggestive of related activity, but does not prove that a quake triggered the FRB.
Do not confuse those 2022 spin-up glitches with a separate large spin-down glitch reported around 5 October 2020 (±1 day) by Younes and colleagues in a 2023 Nature Astronomy study. They are different events, and neither date alone establishes a starquake cause for an FRB.
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Do magnetar bursts always produce radio bursts?
No. A separate observing campaign reported no pulsed radio emission coincident with the SGR bursts it observed. The campaign was not observing when FRB 200428 occurred, so its non-detections do not contradict that detection. The authors suggested that associations between FRBs and SGR bursts may be rare.
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These observations leave room for magnetars to produce FRBs without every magnetar burst producing a detectable radio flash. They also caution against treating a proposed starquake trigger as a routine or settled explanation.
Quick Recap
What the evidence supports—and what it does not
- Observed: SGR 1935+2154 produced FRB 200428 alongside an X-ray burst on 28 April 2020.
- Supported: At least one active Galactic magnetar can produce an FRB-like burst.
- Suggestive, not conclusive: Spin changes and radio activity reported around an October 2022 FRB may be related.
- Still unproven: That a starquake caused FRB 200428, the 2022 FRB, or FRBs generally.
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