The universe harbours an array of extreme entities, from fast radio bursts to supermassive black holes. But scientists consider the most puzzling phenomena to be extremely powerful cosmic rays. Cosmic rays consist of atomic nuclei of elements ranging from hydrogen to iron, that hurtle from unknown origins at ups to 98 percent the speed of light. Some of these cosmic rays carry so much energy that physicists cannot account for what in the universe could have created them.
Cosmic rays are far too powerful to have originated from the Sun or even violently exploding supernova.
Ultra-high frequency cosmic rays are coming at us with energies 10 million times higher than particles produced at CERN
And because cosmic rays do not travel in a straight line, scientists cannot retrace they originate.
This means the answer to the cosmic rays mystery could well involve objects that have never been recorded before.
The University of Utah’s Professor Charles Jui told Express.co.uk why scientists are increasingly fascinated by these cosmic rays.
He said: “We are interested in these ultra high frequency cosmic rays because they are coming at us with energies that are 10 million times higher than the particles produced at the Large Hadron Collider.
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Cosmic rays: The powerful and pervasive phenomena are also the universe’s most fascinating mystery (Image: Getty)
Cosmic rays: Scientist know more about black holes than cosmic rays (Image: Getty/Express)
“So somewhere in nature is creating rays 10 million times stronger than what we can achieve on Earth at great expense and using very very large machines.
“Perhaps there is a great source of energy out there which we know nothing about, and may give us some technological help – but that would be very far down along the road.
“We really don’t know what makes them and accelerates them.
“There are some theories which are plausible, for example, we think the lower energy cosmic rays might come from supernova remnants.
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“These theories are very plausible but we don’t have a smoking gun to show this happening.
“The whole subject itself is a hundred year-old mystery that we don’t have an answer to yet.”
Professor Jui believes the similarities in extremes between cosmic rays and fast radio bursts (FRBs) mean they could be related.
He said: “Anything which is producing as much energy as these fast radio bursts has the potential of having phenomena related to mass acceleration of particles.
Cosmic rays: The Telescope Array Experiment and Pierre Auger Observatory are tasked with detection (Image: Getty)
“The standard scenario for accelerating these particles are theories going back to (American-Italian physicist) Enrico Fermi who said you could accelerate these particles via shockwaves.
“There is a good chance that whatever is accelerating these radio waves is a shock phenomenon.
“When you have shocks like that you are also going to have radio bursts.
“But we don’t really know what is powering these radio bursts, which probably are the most violent phenomena we know of.
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Cosmic rays: The phenomena hurtle from unknown origins at 98 percent the speed of light (Image: Getty)
Cosmic rays: Physicists cannot account for what in the universe could have created them (Image: Getty)
“So whether or not they are related to these cosmic rays, which are the most energetic rays we know of, is not known, but you would think there might be a connection between the two.”
Two major experiments are currently dedicated to detecting and understanding cosmic rays: The Telescope Array Experiment, covering the northern hemisphere, and the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina looking at the southern sky.
And between them, the two experiments have found some very intriguing hints as to where these cosmic rays might come from.
In the Northern Hemisphere there is a “hot spot” called the Super Galactic Plane, in the direction of Ursa Major – also known as the Big Dipper.
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In the Southern Hemisphere, others have seen an intriguing hint of cosmic rays coming from Centaurus A, which is a one of the most violent galaxies in Earth’s neighbourhood.
When the particles in cosmic rays collide with the atoms in at the top of the atmosphere, they “shower”, explains Professor Jui, tearing apart atoms in a violent collision.
The particles from that explosion then keep bursting apart other bits of matter, in a snowballing chain reaction.
Cosmic rays even permeate us, sailing straight through our bodies, explains the physics and astronomy professor: “Very energetic particles basically go through you, depositing only a very small amount of energy.”
Cosmic rays: A photomicrograph shows where high-energy electrons blazed through a film emulsion (Image: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Centre/University of Alabama)
Yet despite the daunting task of unravelling the universe’s greatest mysteries, Professor Jui is optimistic.
He said: “I am sure in the next 10-15 years there will be some breakthroughs.
“The problem we have right now is really not whether or not we are going to achieve these, it is really a matter of building large and expensive projects.
“And furthermore, even with powerful instruments, it will take a long time to collect the data.”
