An international research group in which the University of Tokyo and others participate has announced that it has captured the highest-energy gamma rays coming from space, and that it is evidence that an unknown celestial body that is the source of high energy is in the Milky Way galaxy.
In outer space, it was observed that protons, which are the particles that make up the atomic nucleus, were flying around, and that there were ultra-high energy protons in them, but it was not known how they were getting energy. The original unknown celestial body is named "Pevatron" and has been a mystery for 60 years.
International research groups such as the University of Tokyo and Chinese universities have installed observation devices in the plateaus of China to observe gamma rays emitted when ultra-high-energy protons collide with substances.
As a result, in the two years up to 2017, gamma rays with the highest energy in the history of observation, which is 1000 trillion times that of light, were observed 23 times, and it was found that their sources are widely distributed along the Milky Way galaxy. about it.
The research group believes that "Pevatron" is considered to be evidence of being in the Milky Way galaxy, as it is consistent with the simulation.
Professor Masato Takida of the Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, said, "The candidates for'Pevatron'are supermassive black holes and the remains of supernova explosions, but the next challenge is to find out what they are." I'm talking.