Recreate, on Earth thanks to lasers, the miniature shock waves of a supernova

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Recreate On Earth Thanks To Lasers The Miniature Shock Waves.jpg
Recreate On Earth Thanks To Lasers The Miniature Shock Waves.jpg

Recreate, on Earth thanks to lasers, the miniature shock waves of a supernova

When a massive star dies, explodes in a supernova. Powerful shock waves that throw cosmic rays or highly energetic particles into the universe. The waves act as a kind of particle accelerator, pushing these particles so fast that they approach the speed of light.

How and why do shock waves accelerate these particles? This is a mechanism not yet understood by scientists. To better study these cosmic shock waves, therefore, experts have recreated them on Earth. Fortunately not in a literal sense, but in a very reduced version.

In a nutshell, the researchers fired powerful laser beams onto carbon sheets to create two streams of plasma aimed at each other. When the plasma flows collided, created a shock wave “under conditions similar to a residual supernova shock,” according to the new study published in the journal Nature Physics. Scientists observed the experiment using both optical technology and X-rays.

The researchers verified that the shock was able to accelerate the electrons to nearly the speed of light. However, the mystery remains of how these electrons reached these speeds, which prompted scientists to devote themselves to computer modelling. “We can’t see the details of how particles get their energy even in experiments, let alone in astrophysical observations, and this is where simulations come into play“, underlines Anna Grassi, co-author of the new research.

There is a solution to the mystery: they could be turbulent electromagnetic fields inside the shock wave to have accelerated the electrons at the observed speeds.

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