IMAGE: Artistic design of XMM-Newton space telescope (X-ray multi-mirror mission). A study of archival data from the XMM-Newton and X-ray Chandra space telescopes found evidence of high levels … view more
Credit: D. Ducros; ESA / XMM-Newton, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
A new study, led by theoretical physics at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy (Berkeley Lab), suggests that unprecedented grains called axions could be a source of full-blown X-ray emissions. energy, unexplained around its group of neutron stars.
Originally theorized in the 1970s as part of a solution to a fundamental physics problem, axions are expected to be emitted at the core of stars, and turned into light particles, called photons, in the presence of a field. magnetic.
Axions can also make up a dark matter – the secret material that makes up an estimated 85 percent of the total mass of the universe, but so far we have only seen its impact on a typical object . Even if too many X-rays are turned on without axions or dark matter, it could still reveal new physics.
A collection of neutron stars, known as the Magnificent 7, provided an excellent test bed for the presence of axions, as these stars have powerful magnetic fields, relatively nearby – side by side. hundreds of light years – and they were only expected to be low. -energy X-rays and ultraviolet light.
“They are known to be very ‘boring,'” and in this case it is a good thing, said Benjamin Safdi, a Regional Fellow in the theory group of the Berkeley Lab Department of Physics who led a study, published on January 12 in the magazine Corporate Review Letters, detailing the definition of the axion for the rest.
Christopher Dessert, a fellow of the Berkeley Lab Department of Physics, contributed significantly to the study, in which researchers at UC Berkeley, the University of Michigan, Princeton University, and the University of Minnesota also participated.
If the neutron stars were of a type called pulsars, their active surface would emit radiation at different waves. This radiation would appear across the electromagnetic spectrum, Safdi noted, and could detect this X-ray signature that the researchers discovered, or that would produce radio frequency signals. But the Magnificent 7 is not a pulsars, and no radio signal has been detected. Other common astrophysical explanations do not seem to be consistent with the views either, Safdi said.
If the excess X-ray found around the Magnificent 7 is generated from an object or objects hidden behind neutron stars, that would likely be reflected in the databases that researchers are searching for. use from two space satellites: XMM-Newton European Space Agency. and NASA’s Chandra X-ray telescopes.
Safdi and colleagues say it is still quite possible that a new, non-axial definition will emerge for describing the excess X-ray seen, although they are still hopeful that such will be the case. of interpretation outside the General Model of particle physics, and that new ground – and space-based experiments will determine the origin of the full-energy X-ray signal.
“We are very confident that there is too much of this, and very confident that there is something new among this too,” said Safdi. “If we were 100% sure that what we are seeing is something new, that’s great. That would be a big change in physics. “Even if the discovery comes out unrelated to a new grain or a dark matter, he said,” It would tell us a whole lot more about our universe, and there would be a lot to learn. “
Raymond Co., a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Minnesota who collaborated in the study, said, “We do not claim that we have found the axion yet, but we do say that the additional X-ray photons can be explained by axions. It is an interesting trace of the rest in the X – ray photons, and it is an interesting potential that is already consistent with our definition of axions. “
If there are axions, they would be expected to be very similar to neutrinos in a star, as both of them would have very small masses and will interact very rarely and weakly with another case. They could be abundantly made into star-studded interiors. Undissolved particles called neutrons move around inside neutron stars, occasionally interacting with scattering and releasing neutrino or possibly axion. The neutrino release process is the most powerful way that neutron stars cool over time.
Like neutrinos, the axions would be able to travel outside the star. The strong magnetic field surrounding the Magnificent 7 stars – a billion times stronger than the magnetic fields emitted to Earth – could cause outgoing axions to turn into light.
Neutron stars are surprisingly exotic objects, and Safdi noted that a lot of modeling, data analysis, and theoretical work have gone into the latest study. Researchers have used a bank of supercomputers called Lawrencium Cluster at Berkeley Lab in their latest work.
Some of this work was done at the University of Michigan, where Safdi previously worked. “Without the high-performance high-performance work of Michigan and Berkeley, none of this would have been possible,” he said.
“There’s a lot of data processing and data analysis that went into this. You have to model the interior of a neutron star to predict how many axes should be introduced into that star.”
Safdi noted that, as the next step in this research, white stars would be a key location for detecting axions because they also have strong magnetic fields, and are expected to be “X-ray-free environments . ”
“This is a very strong start that this is something beyond the Standard Model if we see too much X-ray there as well,” he said.
Researchers could also list another X-ray space telescope, called NuStar, to help solve the mystery of over-X-ray.
Safdi said he is also excited about ground-based experiments such as CAST at CERN, which works as a solar telescope to turn detection axes into X-rays with a strong magnet, and ALPS II in Germany, which would use a powerful magnetic field to cause axions to transform into light particles on one side of an obstacle while laser light hits the other side of the obstacle.
Axions has received more attention as a continuation of failed tests on signs of the WIMP (weak interaction with great hatred), another promising candidate. And the axion picture isn’t that simple – it could be a family record.
There may be hundreds of axion-like grains, or ALPs, that make up a dark subject, and string theory – a candidate theory for describing the forces of the universe – continues to found that there could be many types of ALP.
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The study was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Science Office Early Career Research Program; Advanced Research Computing and the Leinweber Graduate Fellowship at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; the National Science Foundation; Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics (MITP) of the PRISMA + excellence group; Munich Institute for Astro- and Particle Physics (MIAPP) of DFG Excellence Cluster Sources; and the CERN Theory division.
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