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

类星体可以发射出长达数百光年的薄结构。其中一些大型喷流在x射线波长下异常明亮。十多年来，一个标准模型似乎可以解释这种亮度。但是，该团队对一些喷流的新观察结果无法用标准模型来拟合。该团队开发了一种适合的替代模型。在他们的模型中，粒子沿着喷流被加速到极端能量。该团队将研究更多的大型喷气机。他们将检验标准模型或替代模型是否最适合观测结果。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，向K-12学生传达研究结果。该网页将提交给美国物理教师协会进行管理。该团队将严格检查大规模类星体喷流中异常x射线发射本质的流行理论，即这种发射是由于宇宙微波背景光子被30-100 MeV能量的喷射电子反向康普顿散射。他们还将研究另一种解释的含义，即x射线是由30-100 TeV电子在原位加速产生的同步辐射。该团队先前的工作表明，由此产生的TeV光子可以加热星系间介质，从而减少形成的矮星系的数量。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.