Supernova remnants serve as unique laboratories to understand the complex processes occurring during a supernova explosion and to investigate the internal structure of massive stars just before their explosive demise. Additionally, the study of these remnants is driven by their crucial role in accelerating cosmic rays, which are particles with extremely high energies. In 1949, Enrico Fermi laid the groundwork for
The role of supernova remnants (expanding clouds produced by supernovae) in the acceleration of cosmic rays (high-energy particles present in various astrophysical environments) has been known since 1995. The discovery, made by astronomers from Kyoto University, was made possible by identifying the presence of non-thermal X-ray emission in the supernova remnant SN 1006. X-rays are a type of high-energy radiation
Our planet is constantly bombarded by highly energetic particles known as ‘cosmic rays‘. The spectrum of cosmic rays up to energies of 1015 electronvolts (eV) is formed by the sources in our Galaxy, while particles with observed energies up to 1021 eV should have extra-galactic origin. The cosmic ray spectrum follows a power law, meaning that the flux of particles with a given
Cosmic rays are high-energy charged particles which continuously hit our planet. These particles are accelerated up to such high velocities in different astronomical environments, among which supernova remnants seems to be particularly important. These objects are nebulae in rapid expansion generated by the explosions of very massive stars. In supernova remnants, particle acceleration seems to occurr along the expanding shock
Our planet is constantly bombarded by energetic particles (mainly protons) called “cosmic rays“. The study of cosmic rays is a leading science topic given its importance in several fields, such as the study of the effects on instrumentation and astronauts in space, where the natural protection against these particles provided by the magnetic field of Earth is low or null.
Energetic particles, called “cosmic rays”, constantly rain down on our planet. Thanks to several years of theoretical studies and observations, we know that these particles can be accelerated by shocks propagating in certain astrophysical environments. The classical example of such environment are the supernovae remnants, which are expanding clouds created by supernova explosions, which are often interacting with surrounding material.
