'X-Ray Stripes' Discovered Inside Supernova Remnant

An amazing new image collected by the NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory has determined the existence of an interesting pattern of X-ray stripes inside the Tycho supernova remnant.

This is the first time such structures are found in these cosmic leftovers. Remnants are produced after massive stars reach the end of their burning cycle, and then go supernova. The outer layers of their atmosphere are shed, and they go on to form the onion-like structures.

Chandra's sensitive detectors can easily pierce through all these layers, identifying objects and patterns that no other observatory can. Tycho's X-ray “stripes” are just its latest discovery.

According to astrophysicists, these stripes may go a long way towards explaining how particular types of cosmic rays are born. These rays are among the most energetic forms of light in the Universe.

The very presence of these 3D structures also provides additional support to an older theory, which states that blast waves produced during supernova explosions can significantly amplify magnetic fields,

Elementary particles making up cosmic rays – such as electrons, positrons and atomic nuclei – can be influenced significantly over the course of their journey through the Cosmos. Magnetic fields around stars, black holes and pulsars can scramble the path these particles take.

This masks their origins, and leaves astrophysicists incapable of determining their origins. As such, the origin of cosmic rays still remains one of the most mysterious things about the Universe.

“We interpret the stripes as evidence for acceleration of particles to near the knee of the CR spectrum in regions of enhanced magnetic turbulence, while the observed highly ordered pattern of these features provides a new challenge to models of diffusive shock acceleration,” says Kristoffer A. Eriksen.

The expert and his team authored a paper called “Evidence For Particle Acceleration to the Knee of the Cosmic Ray Spectrum in Tycho’s Supernova Remnant,” in which they explain the new findings.

The “knee” of the cosmic ray spectrum is an energy level of 10^15 eV (electronvolts). It was until now believed that supernova remnants were the primary source of cosmic rays because their surroundings could reach this energy level.

What is clear right now is that the discovery of Tycho's spirals is something no one expected. Experts did expect to find elementary particles accelerated in powerful magnetic fields, but this would have meant the X-rays should have formed “walls and gaps,” rather than “stripes,” Universe Today reports.