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Ultrahigh energy cosmic rays are the highest-energy particles in deep space, whose energies are more than a million times what can be accomplished by human beings.
Teacher Farrar proposes that binary neutron star mergers are the source of all or most ultrahigh energy cosmic rays; this situation can represent the heretofore mysterious narrow rigidness variety of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays since the jets of binary neutron star mergers are produced by a gravitationally driven eager beaver and hence are almost similar due to the narrow series of binary neutron star masses. Image credit: Osaka Metropolitan University/ L-INSIGHT, Kyoto University/ Ryuunosuke Takeshige.
While the presence of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays has actually been understood for almost 6 years, astrophysicists have actually not prospered in creating an acceptable description for their origin that discusses all the observations– previously.
A brand-new theory presented by New York University’s Glennys Farrar supplies a practical and testable description for how ultrahigh energy cosmic rays are produced.
“After 6 years of effort, the origin of the strange highest-energy particles in deep space might lastly have actually been determined,” Professor Farrar stated.
“This insight offers a brand-new tool for comprehending the most catastrophic occasions of deep space: 2 neutron stars combining to form a great void, which is the procedure accountable for the development of numerous valuable or unique aspects, consisting of gold, platinum, uranium, iodine, and xenon.”
Teacher Farrar proposes that ultrahigh energy cosmic rays are sped up in the rough magnetic outflows of binary neutron star mergers– gushed out from the merger residue, prior to development of the last great void.
The procedure at the same time creates effective gravitational waves– some currently found by researchers at the LIGO-Virgo Collaboration.
“This work discusses, for the very first time, 2 of the most mystical functions of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays: the tight connection in between their energy and electrical charge, and the remarkable energy of a handful of the extremely greatest energy occasions,” Professor Farrar stated.
“Stemming from the research study are 2 effects that can offer speculative recognition in future work:
(i) the really greatest energy cosmic rays come from as uncommon ‘r-process’ aspects, such as xenon and tellurium, inspiring a look for such an element in the ultrahigh energy cosmic ray information;
(ii) very high-energy neutrinos, stemming from ultrahigh energy cosmic ray crashes, are always accompanied by the gravitational wave produced in the moms and dad neutron star merger.”
The research study appears in the journal Physical Review Letters
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Glennys R. Farrar. 2025. Binary Neutron Star Mergers as the Source of the Highest Energy Cosmic Rays. Phys. Rev. Lett 134, 081003; doi: 10.1103/ PhysRevLett.134.081003
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