From the other end of the universe

1998/11/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astrofisika

Two researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Radio Astronomy have discovered the powerful cosmic rays that have come from the arista of the Universe. These rays are the most energetic known so far and come from spoons very far away according to the researchers. The finding has great importance for the physics of particles, since so far no subatomic particles have been known to cross such a large distance. For this reason, researchers believe they have found a new subatomic particle.

The particles that form the high-energy cosmic rays – protons, nuclei of atoms or photons – lose energy through space, colliding with the residual photons of Big Bang.

Therefore, the energy particles that have been known so far could not reach more than 150 million light years from Earth. According to the researchers, the quasars that have produced these cosmic rays are the largest sources of energy known so far and are found at 12 billion light from Earth, 80% of the distance to the Universe. The rays are constituted by a new type of neutral particles that does not react with the photons present in the Universe.