Collaborative Research: Uncovering Nature's 100 TeV Particle Accelerators in the Large-Scale Jets of Quasars

类星体可以发射绵延数百光年的薄结构。其中一些大型喷流在X射线波长上异常明亮。在十多年的时间里，一个标准的模型似乎可以解释这种亮度。但该团队对几架喷气式飞机的新观测结果与标准模型无法吻合。该团队开发了一种确实适合的替代模型。在他们的模型中，粒子沿着喷流被加速到极高的能量。该小组将检查更多的大型喷气式飞机。他们将看看标准模型和他们的替代模型是否最符合观测结果。高级团队成员将培训初级团队成员，其中一些来自代表性不足的群体。该团队将开发一个互动网页，将研究成果传达给K-12的学生。该网页将提交给美国物理教师协会进行管理。该团队将批判性地研究大型类星体喷流中反常X射线发射的主要理论，即这种发射是由于宇宙微波背景光子被30-100 MeV能量喷流电子的逆康普顿散射所致。他们还将调查他们的另一种解释的含义，即X射线是由30-100 TeV电子在原地加速发出的同步辐射。该团队之前的工作表明，由此产生的TeV光子可以加热星际介质，从而减少形成的矮小星系的数量。该团队将进一步发展这一想法。

Quasars can launch thin structures that stretch over hundreds of light years. Some of these large-scale jets are unusually bright at X-ray wavelengths. For more than a decade, a standard model seemed to explain this brightness. But the team's new observations of a few jets could not be fit by the standard model. The team developed an alternative model that did fit. In their model, particles are accelerated to extreme energies all along the jet. The team will examine many more large-scale jets. They will see if the standard model or their alternative model best fit the observations. Senior team members will train junior team members, some from underrepresented groups. The team will develop an interactive web page to convey the research to K-12 students. The web page will be submitted for curation by the American Association of Physics Teachers.The team will critically examine the prevailing theory for the nature of the anomalous X-ray emission in large-scale quasar jets, namely that this emission is due to cosmic microwave background photons being inverse-Compton scattered by 30-100 MeV energy jet electrons. They will also investigate the implications of their alternative explanation, namely that the X-rays are synchrotron emission from 30-100 TeV electrons accelerated in situ. The team's prior work suggests that the resulting TeV photons could heat the intergalactic medium, thereby reducing the number of dwarf galaxies formed. The team will develop this idea further.