Eine Quelle extrem energiereicher Teilchen in der Milchstraße identifiziert

From the article:

„Cosmic rays are made primarily of protons with a few electrons sprinkled in, and they can reach energies even higher than what human-made accelerators can produce. Considering human-made accelerators, such as the Large Hadron Collider on the border of Switzerland and France, can move protons to near the speed of light, it’s no wonder that these super-energetic particles can influence cosmic events across the galaxy.

An accelerator of the highest-energy cosmic-ray protons in our galaxy has been identified conclusively, thanks to a Hiroshima University-led international team of researchers assessing data from three major observatories on Earth and in space. This could help scientists better understand the nature of these fast-moving particles that fill the space between stars and influence cosmic events across the Milky Way galaxy.

„This immense energy makes cosmic rays important in astronomy and astrophysics,“ said first and corresponding author of the study, Tsunefumi Mizuno, associate professor at Hiroshima University’s Hiroshima Astrophysical Science Center. He explained that these energies are measured in electron volts—the energy an electron gains when it moves from a resting state and increases its electrical potential by one volt.

„The highest energy of galactic cosmic rays can reach and exceed 1 quadrillion (1015) electron volts, or a peta electron volt (PeV). Finding a cosmic-ray proton accelerator above that PeV level, called a proton PeVatron, is one of the most exciting topics in modern astrophysics, and we identified one such object previously known as LHAASO J1912+1014u.““