2023-06-19 01:44:18
Recently, astronomers discovered a strange mystery: extremely high-energy particles emitted from the sun’s surface when it was relatively quiet. Now a team of theorists has proposed a simple solution to the puzzle. We just have to look a little below the surface.
In 2022, the Cherenkov Observatory (HAWC) detected a high-altitude flash of gamma rays coming from the sun’s disk. To generate this type of radiation requires a particle with TeV energies colliding with another particle. The observation follows more than six years of observations with the Fermi Large Area Telescope in Earth orbit. This telescope has made important detections of gamma rays also coming from the sun. These findings were of lower power than the HAWC results, but they pointed in the same general direction.
What was particularly surprising regarding these observations is that these remarkably high-energy particles seemed to be emitted from the Sun when it was in a relatively calm state. Sometimes solar storms and flares tear the surface of the Sun, naturally generating huge amounts of energies that can easily create high-energy particles. But when the sun is quiet, it’s hard to locate an energy source large enough to power these kinds of processes.
in a new sheet A team of theoretical astrophysicists has proposed a solution. It seems that the secret of high-energy particles coming from the sun is only skin deep. The photosphere is the visible outermost layer of the Sun that emits light that we can see. The researchers confirmed earlier calculations that no process in or just above the photosphere contained the required energy.
But the layer below the photosphere, known as the chromosphere, can hold enough energy. The turbulent motions of the plasma within the chromosphere and the complex, entangled magnetic fields that reside there can take particles to very high energy levels. The particles themselves are cosmic rays, raining down into the solar system from the wider universe. Cosmic rays enter the Sun and reach the chromosphere, where they become entangled with the powerful and complex magnetic fields there. It is accelerated to incredibly high energies and then spit back out of the sun. Once free, they collide with a random proton that occurs near the sun’s surface, generating a gamma-ray flash.
These results indicate that our sun is capable of accelerating particles to very high energies very efficiently, even when no chaos is occurring on the surface. Our Sun is a complex, dynamic, and energetic star. And this work shows how strong he is.
1687148236
#particle #collider #world #sun
