Pennsylvania State University | 2018 Jan 22
New model connects the origins of very high-energy neutrinos, ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays, and high-energy gamma rays with black-hole jets embedded in their environments.
[c][attachment=0]Murase1-2018.jpeg[/attachment][/c][hr][/hr]One of the biggest mysteries in astroparticle physics has been the origins of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays, very high-energy neutrinos, and high-energy gamma rays. Now, a new theoretical model reveals that they all could be shot out into space after cosmic rays are accelerated by powerful jets from supermassive black holes and they travel inside clusters and groups of galaxies.
The model explains the natural origins of all three types of "cosmic messenger" particles simultaneously, and is the first astrophysical model of its kind based on detailed numerical computations. A scientific paper that describes this model, produced by Penn State and University of Maryland scientists, will be published as an Advance Online Publication on the website of the journal Nature Physics on January 22, 2018.
"Our model shows a way to understand why these three types of cosmic messenger particles have a surprisingly similar amount of power input into the universe, despite the fact that they are observed by space-based and ground-based detectors over ten orders of magnitude in individual particle energy," said Kohta Murase, assistant professor of physics and astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State. "The fact that the measured intensities of very high-energy neutrinos, ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays, and high-energy gamma rays are roughly comparable tempted us to wonder if these extremely energetic particles have some physical connections. The new model suggests that very high-energy neutrinos and high-energy gamma rays are naturally produced via particle collisions as daughter particles of cosmic rays, and thus can inherit the comparable energy budget of their parent particles. It demonstrates that the similar energetics of the three cosmic messengers may not be a mere coincidence." ...
Linking High-Energy Cosmic Particles by Black-Hole Jets Embedded in Large-Scale Structures - Ke Fang, Kohta Murase
- Nature Physics (online 22 Jan 2018) DOI: 10.1038/s41567-017-0025-4
arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1704.00015 > 31 Mar 2017 (v1), 16 Apr 2017 (v2)