Antimatter Seen in Solar Flares

(Image Source: Space.com )

Antimatter has been detected in solar flares via microwave and magnetic-field data, according to a presentation by the New Jersey Institute of Technology research professor of physics Gregory Fleishman and two co-researchers at the 44^th meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Solar Physics Division. This research sheds light on the puzzling strong asymmetry between matter and antimatter by gathering data on a very large scale using the Sun as a laboratory.

While antiparticles can be created and then detected with costly and complex particle-accelerator experiments, such particles are otherwise very difficult to study. However, Fleishman and the two co-researchers have reported the first remote detection of relativistic antiparticles — positrons — produced in nuclear interactions of accelerated ions in solar flares through the analysis of readily available microwave and magnetic-field data obtained from solar-dedicated facilities and spacecraft. That such particles are created in solar flares is not a surprise, but this is the first time their immediate effects have been detected.

The results of this research have far-reaching implications for gaining valuable knowledge through remote detection of relativistic antiparticles at the Sun and, potentially, other astrophysical objects by means of radio-telescope observations. The ability to detect these antiparticles in an astrophysical source promises to enhance our understanding of the basic structure of matter and high-energy processes such as solar flares, which regularly have a widespread and disruptive terrestrial impact, but also offer a natural laboratory to address the most fundamental mysteries of the universe we live in.

More - Link >>> http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/07/antimatter-seen-solar-flares?et_cid=3357920&et_rid=544607214&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.laboratoryequipment.com%2fnews%2f2013%2f07%2fantimatter-seen-solar-flares

Sources: New Jersey Institute of Technology, Laboratory Equipment Magazine.

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