Star Swallowed by Supermassive Black Hole Sends Ghostly Particle to Earth
A high-energy particle, thought to have been sent our way by a supermassive black hole hundreds of millions of years ago, has collided with Earth and offered astronomers a rare insight into black holes.
Supermassive black holes are behemoths hiding in the centers of galaxies. Their gravitational force is so strong that if an unlucky star gets too close to it, the star will be shredded into pieces.
Astronomers call this a tidal disruption event. The black hole then swallows the remains of the star, temporarily giving off light, as the black hole is full of energy.
Scientists link star-shredding event to origins of universe s highest-energy particles nsf.gov - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nsf.gov Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
February 27, 2021
Astronomers found a high energy neutrino – a cosmic ray – that apparently originated during a “tidal disruption event,” that is, when a supermassive black hole shredded a distant star.
Artist’s concept of a tidal disruption event, when a star comes too close to a supermassive black hole and gets shredded. A situation like this may light up the host galaxy many times greater than its normal brightness. Image via DESY/ Science Communication Lab.
Cosmic rays are high-energy particles that travel through space at close to the speed of light. Many origins of cosmic rays have been suggested, and some confirmed; for example, supernova explosions generate them. But supernovae can’t explain the quantity of cosmic rays bombarding Earth at all times, and so cosmic ray origins are still largely mysterious. In particular, high-energy neutrinos are largely unexplained (although some come from blazars). Now, astronomers have pinpointed the origin of a high-energy ne
This discovery, reported in the journal
Nature Astronomy, sheds new light on the origins of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays the highest energy particles in the universe.
“This suggests these star shredding events are powerful enough to accelerate high-energy particles.”
The work focused on neutrinos subatomic particles that are produced on Earth only in powerful accelerators.
Neutrinos as well as the process of their creation are hard to detect, making their discovery, along with that of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), noteworthy.
“The origin of cosmic high-energy neutrinos is unknown, primarily because they are notoriously hard to pin down,” explains Sjoert van Velzen, one of the paper’s lead authors and a postdoctoral fellow in New York University’s physics department at the time of the discovery. “This result would be only the second time high-energy neutrinos have been traced back to their source.”
Scientists Capture The First Picture Of A Black Hole
A group of scientists has detected the presence of a high-energy neutrino a particularly elusive particle in the wake of a star s destruction as it is consumed by a black hole. Neutrinos as well as the process of their creation are hard to detect, making their discovery, along with that of Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs), noteworthy.
This discovery, reported in the journal
Nature Astronomy, sheds new light on the origins of Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays the highest energy particles in the Universe.
The work, which included researchers from more than two dozen institutions, including New York University and Germany s DESY research center, focused on neutrinos subatomic particles that are produced on Earth only in powerful accelerators.