New Research Suggests Magnetic Turbulence Powers Ultra-High

[patricjfrenn]

Ultra-high energy cosmic rays, which originate in extreme astrophysical environments such as near black holes and neutron stars, possess energy levels far beyond those of particles from the Sun. These cosmic rays have around 10 million times the energy of particles produced in the most intense particle environment on Earth, the Large Hadron Collider.

For many years, scientists believed that shocks in these extreme environments — such as the explosive events that occur when stars collapse into black holes — were responsible for accelerating these particles. However, new research published this week in The Astrophysical Journal Letters presents a different explanation. According to the study, the energy behind these cosmic rays is more likely driven by magnetic turbulence. The researchers found that in these environments, magnetic fields become tangled and twisted, accelerating particles rapidly and dramatically increasing their energy before reaching an abrupt cutoff.

Luca Comisso, associate research scientist at the Columbia Astrophysics Lab and one of the study’s authors, explained that these findings help resolve long-standing questions about the source of the energy behind cosmic rays.

The paper builds on previous research by Comisso and colleagues, who explored how energetic particles from the Sun are also driven by magnetic fields in the solar corona. Their earlier work improved predictions of where these energetic particles would emerge from the Sun.

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Ultra-high energy cosmic rays are significantly more powerful than solar particles: they can reach up to 1020 electron volts, while solar particles max out at 1010 electron volts — a difference of 10 orders of magnitude. To put this into perspective, the difference in scale is akin to comparing the mass of a grain of rice (0.05 grams) to that of a 500-ton Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger aircraft. Despite the vast difference in energy scales, both environments share a key characteristic: highly tangled magnetic fields that play a crucial role in energizing particles.

The study’s data on ultra-high energy cosmic rays strongly supports the theory of magnetic turbulence over the previously accepted shock acceleration model, marking a significant breakthrough in the field. Glennys R. Farrar, a co-author and professor of physics at New York University, noted the importance of this finding in advancing our understanding of cosmic ray acceleration.