In 2022, scientists will The most powerful space explosion ever observed.
Scientists say they know what it’s made of: matter and antimatter colliding and annihilating with a 99.9% probability. Speed of Light.
This cosmic explosion is called a gamma-ray burst (GRB). Gamma ray light A huge star collapses Black HoleAs the resulting cosmic behemoth devours material, some of it is hurled in the opposite direction of the growing black hole, forming a powerful jet of energy that penetrates the exterior of the dying star. Statement from NASA.
If these jets were pointed towards Earth, they could be detected by space satellites and spacecraft.
Related: Brightest gamma ray burst in history disrupts Earth’s upper atmosphere
The brightest gamma-ray burst in history (nicknamed the Boat, but officially named GRB 221009A) was detected on October 9, 2022. At the time, a large amount of gamma rays were emitted toward Earth, leading NASA to Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope.
As a result, during the most violent part of the explosion, these detectors stopped flashing. But about five minutes later, the explosion subsided and the detectors started working again. At that point, the detectors detected an unusual energy peak of about 12 million electron volts, which lasted for about 40 seconds, according to the statement. For comparison, visible light The energy is about 2 to 3 electron volts.
“When I saw the signal for the first time, I got goosebumps,” says the lead researcher. Maria Edvige Ravasio“Scientists have been studying GRBs for 50 years, but this is the first time we’ve detected a signal like this with any degree of confidence,” the astrophysicist from Radboud University and the Brera Observatory in the Netherlands said in a statement.
According to the researchers, this strange energy peak is evidence of antimatter partners called electrons and positrons colliding and destroying each other. When these two types of particles annihilate each other, they typically release energy of about 500,000 electron volts, much less than the 12 million electron volts, the researchers explain: The detected jet is traveling toward Earth at nearly the speed of light, which is squashing the wave. This “blueshift” pushes the wave to a much higher energy level, or the “bluer” end of the electromagnetic spectrum.
“The probability that this feature is simply noise fluctuation is less than one in five hundred million,” say the study’s co-authors. Om Sharan SalafiaJonathan Malo, an astrophysicist at the Brera Observatory of the National Institute for Astrophysics in Milan (INAF), said in a statement:
The discovery could shed light on the chaotic environments inside these jets: although jets have been detected for decades, scientists still don’t understand all the processes that occur when they form.
The new findings were published in the journal Neurology on Thursday (July 25). Science.
