New discovery about the huge energy source in cosmic rays

Ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, emitted from extreme astronomical environments such as the regions near black holes and neutron stars, have energies far exceeding those of energetic particles emerging from the Sun.

According to scientists, these particles carry about 10 million times more energy than particles accelerated in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) – the most powerful machine ever built by humans.

For many years, the prevailing theory was that high-energy cosmic rays get their energy from shocks in the astronomical environment, such as massive stellar explosions that create black holes.

Magnetic fields in these astronomical environments are often chaotic, twisted, and changing rapidly. (Illustration: eurasiareview).

However, new research published this week in the scientific journal 'The Astrophysical Journal Letters ' has suggested another mechanism: magnetic field disturbances.

According to the researchers, magnetic fields in these astronomical environments are often chaotic, twisted, and wildly fluctuating. These fluctuations can accelerate particles to enormous energies before they suddenly stop.

"These findings help us better understand how cosmic rays get their energy and provide answers to long-standing questions in both astrophysics and particle physics," said Luca Comisso, a scientist at the Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory and co-author of the study.

Ultra-high-energy cosmic rays can reach 10²⁰ electron volts, while energetic particles from the Sun reach only about 10¹⁰ electron volts – a difference of up to 10 orders of magnitude.

This difference is similar to comparing a grain of rice weighing 0.05 grams and an Airbus A380 weighing 500 tons.

Interestingly, these two very different astronomical environments have one thing in common: the chaos of the magnetic field plays a crucial role in energizing the particles.

Professor Glennys R. Farrar at New York University (USA), co-author of the paper, affirmed: "The observational data has favored the theory of magnetic perturbation instead of shock acceleration. This is an important breakthrough for astrophysics."

This discovery not only opens up a new understanding of the origin of energy in cosmic rays but also contributes to deciphering the mysteries related to the mechanism of particle acceleration in extreme environments of the universe.

It also complements previous research on the energy source from the Sun, helping to better predict the formation of energetic particles in the near and distant universe.