Amaterasu: Super-energetic particle from outer space

Source-This post is based on the article “How a super-energetic particle from outer space could help physics” published in “The Hindu” on 2nd January 2024.

Why in the News?

Japanese scientists found a powerful cosmic ray on Earth named ‘Amaterasu,’ the second-highest-energy cosmic ray ever discovered.

What is Amaterasu?

1) It is one of the high-energy cosmic ray, named after the Japanese Sun goddess.

2) It appears to have arrived from a void in space where nothing is known to exist.

3) The Amaterasu particle possesses an energy surpassing 240 exa-electron volts (EeV), making it millions of times more powerful than particles produced by the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s most powerful particle accelerator.

4) It ranks second only to the Oh-My-God particle, another ultra-high-energy cosmic ray detected in 1991, which registered at 320 EeV.

What are cosmic rays?

1) They are high-energy particles, moving at nearly the speed of light, originate from the Sun, our galaxy, and distant galaxies.

2) These particles can include protons, alpha particles (helium nuclei), and heavier ions.

3) Ultra-high-energy cosmic rays are subatomic particles from extragalactic sources with energies greater than 1 EeV.

Significance– They are crucial for studying astrophysical phenomena and understanding the properties of particles at very high energies.

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