强强联手、刷新观测极限！中国天眼再传好消息

Core Viewpoint - Tsinghua University, in collaboration with astronomers from Italy, Australia, Germany, and other countries, has conducted high-precision observations of globular clusters using China's FAST and South Africa's MeerKAT telescopes, providing the most comprehensive measurements of magnetic field gradients and ionized gas limits to date, offering new insights into cluster evolution and the Milky Way's magnetic field [1][2]. Group 1 - The FAST telescope, with a 500-meter diameter, excels at capturing faint cosmic signals from pulsars millions of light-years away, while the MeerKAT telescope, with its 64 antennas, focuses on tracking signals across broader areas, detecting polarization changes caused by ionized gas [2]. - This collaboration marks the first deep cooperation between these two leading radio telescopes in the field of globular cluster research, achieving unprecedented observational limits and measuring polarization rotation for 43 pulsars across 8 globular clusters [2]. - The study revealed that 7 of the globular clusters showed no detectable ionized gas, contradicting theoretical models that predict significant gas presence, suggesting the existence of effective gas-clearing mechanisms, potentially from strong radiation winds of white dwarfs and young stars [2]. Group 2 - The data analysis was primarily conducted by Dr. Zhang Lei, who emphasized that the unexpected lack of gas in globular clusters necessitates a reevaluation of cluster evolution theories [2]. - Future collaborations between FAST and MeerKAT will continue to explore pulsar mutations, study interstellar turbulence, and even investigate potential signals from extraterrestrial civilizations [2].