Plasma Jets (IMAGE)

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Plasma Jets

Caption

SLAC researchers have found a new mechanism that could explain how plasma jets emerging from the center of active galaxies, like the one shown in this illustration, accelerate particles to extreme energies. Computer simulations (circled area) showed that tangled magnetic field lines create strong electric fields in the direction of the jets, leading to dense electric currents of high-energy particles streaming away from the galaxy.

Credit

Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

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