Jernigan said that extreme gravity and radiation creates a strong pressure near the surface of the neutron star and pushes the infalling matter aside, poking holes in the matter and creating empty bubbles that fill with 100 million degree X-rays. Klein described the bubbles as hot fingers of X-ray light rising up to a few miles above the surface of the neutron star only to fall and disintegrate, releasing their energy in a thousandth of a second. We likely have an entire universe of these bubble blowers. Of course, no one has really seen the dancing bubbles nor the neutron star surface. These observations are in X-ray from a tiny speck of distant light.
Data take the form of cycles of X-ray intensity.
It is the scientist's job to determine where X-rays come from within this speck and what causes them. Jernigan himself, however, cautioned that this is a theoretical conclusion, not purely observational. Despite his carefully worded language to other scientists, there is disagreement. But the jury is still out on the results. Essentially, the bubble scientists are detecting oscillations so rapid and faint that artifacts in the X-ray detector itself might be able to give similar results.