Solar physicists are now faced with a new challenge as they try to figure out the source of the most energetic light that has ever been seen.
More than 30 institutions in North America, Europe and Asia have conducted a 6-year observation campaign that has led to the detection of the first solar gamma radiation detected in the Teraelectronvolt range (TeV).
Contrary to what you may have expected, the detection did not coincide with a heightened level of solar activity, or any solar activity. The Sun was actually quite calm when the detection occurred, and current models cannot explain it.
The Sun has been the subject of intense study in the entire cosmos. We have observations spanning the entire spectrumThere are many types of radiation, from the lowest-frequency radio waves, to the highest-energy light in the Universe: gamma rays. There’s still a downside to all of that. We don’t Know a LotAbout our home star. Its processes are still unknown to us.
Magnetic fields play a vital role in the world. All of itWe observe solar activity, but mechanisms that cause it. Misunderstood. To gain a better understanding, we study the light that the Sun emits.
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The High Altitude Water CherenkovHAWCThe ) observatory is used to study the cosmic and gamma radiation that hits the Earth’s atmosphere. The atmosphere prevents this radiation from reaching Earth, but can create high-energy particle that can be harmful. Detection in the DarkThe parent gamma radiation energy and direction are calculated from the detection.
“HAWC has been one of the most successful detectors in the TeV range for observing the Sun,” WritersThe international HAWC CollaborationThe research was conducted by. The large field of vision and high livetime ratio allow for continuous exposure during the Sun’s transit across the sky.
The researchers found that data collected between 2014 and 2020 using HAWC revealed emissions ranging in intensity from 0.5 TeV to 2.6 TeV. (One TeV is a billion electronvolts). These emissions were coming from the Sun’s direction. The new analysis pipeline confirmed that the emission came from the Sun with a probability of 6.3.
The highest energy light seen in space is not this one. It’s not the highest energy light ever seen in space. Record belongs toAn observation of 450 teravolt gamma radiation coming from Crab Nebula was made several years back. It is a brand new hit for the star we are looking at.
After six years of data analysis, gamma radiation was found to be excessive. You can find out more about this by clicking here.Un Nisa, a physicist who studies astroparticles at Michigan State University.
When we first saw this, we thought, “We’ve definitely screwed up.” “The sun cannot be so bright at these energies.”
The Sun can be rowdy at times. It can be a bit savage. solar flaresCoronal mass ejections. But the Sun is not only a light-emitter. It is also hit by it. Cosmic raysFrom the wider galaxy, cosmic rays are always streaming through space. These cosmic rays are constantly interacting with Earth’s atmosphere. gamma ray glow.
It is believed that a similar process occurs on the Sun. Galactic cosmic radiation collides with nuclei within the solar atmosphere in the gigaelectronvolt (1 million electronvolt) range.
This interaction is thought to be the cause of the TeV emissions. They also examined the GeV data from HAWC’s and NASA’s Fermi LATThe gamma ray space telescope found that GeV emissions were brighter and more abundant than expected during calm periods of the Sun.
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What we do not know is why the emission is so bright. It does not match the theoretical models. The Sun’s messy magnetic field is likely to play a part, especially given its poor condition. In fact, they play a role. A paper published earlier in the yearThe solar magnetic field is thought to act as an accelerator for electrons from cosmic rays in order to produce synchrotron radiation.
It will take more modeling to find out how to achieve this.
“Models of cosmic ray interactions in the Sun … already under-predict the observed gamma-ray flux from the Sun in the GeV range,” the HAWC Collaboration Writers. “Our observations point to the need for a revised model that can explain the anomalous overabundance of gamma-rays from Sun, also in the TeV spectrum.”
The research has appeared in Physical Review Letters.
