In the Cygnus star formation region of the Milky Way, there is a giant ultra-high-energy gamma ray bubble structure - a cosmic "bubble" nearly ten million times the size of the solar system and with an energy of over 100 billion electron volts. It was recently discovered by China's large scientific facility at high altitude. The Cosmic Ray Observatory (English abbreviation LHAASO, Chinese nickname "Lasuo") discovered and confirmed that it is an object that originates cosmic rays.
This important high-energy astrophysics research result, which is the first time in the world and history to discover the origin of cosmic rays with energy higher than 1 exaion electron volts and certify the first super cosmic ray acceleration source, is led by the "La The international cooperation team "Search" was completed, and the relevant paper was published as a cover in the well-known academic journal "Science Bulletin" on February 26.
According to the "Raso" team, during this study, "Raso" discovered a giant ultra-high-energy gamma ray bubble structure in the Cygnus star formation region. This conservatively estimated diameter is about 1,000 light-years and is about 5,000 light-years away from the earth. Within the "bubble" of the universe, there are multiple photons with energy exceeding 1 quadrillion electron volts distributed among them, with the highest reaching 2 quadrillion electron volts.
Generally speaking, producing a gamma photon with an energy of 2 quadrillion electron volts requires cosmic ray particles with at least 10 times higher energy.
Therefore, this indicates that there is a super cosmic ray accelerator inside the giant ultra-high-energy cosmic "bubble", which continuously produces high-energy cosmic ray particles with an energy of at least 2 billion electron volts and injects them into interstellar space.
These high-energy cosmic rays collide with the gaseous material in interstellar space to produce gamma photons. The number of photons is clearly related to the distribution of the surrounding gas. The massive star clusters located near the center of the "bubble" of the universe are the super universe. The most likely corresponding celestial body for linear accelerators.
The "Raso" team believes that this powerful particle accelerator is the first super cosmic ray acceleration source that scientists have been able to verify so far.
It is believed that with the increase of observation time, "Raso" will be able to detect more acceleration sources of quadrillion electron volts or even higher energy cosmic rays in the future, and is expected to solve the mystery of the origin of cosmic rays in the Milky Way.
According to reports, as the most sensitive ultra-high-energy gamma ray detection device in the world, the "Raso" is China's major national scientific and technological infrastructure with cosmic ray observation and research as its core. It is constructed and operated by the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Adopt a common international cooperation model to achieve open sharing of facility platforms and observation data.
At present, the "Raso" international cooperation group has 32 Chinese and foreign astrophysics research institutions as member units and about 280 scientist members.
(Fei Fan’s video produced by reporter Sun Zifa is from the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
Editor in charge: [Lu Yan]