Just recently astronomers captured an odd mystery: very high-energy particles spitting out of the surface of the Sun when it was relatively calm. Now a team of theorists have actually proposed an easy solution to the secret. We just have to look a bit under the surface.
In 2022 the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory identified a flash of extremely high gamma ray radiation coming from the disk of the sun. To create that type of radiation required a particle with TeV energies knocking into another particle. This observation came on the heels of over 6 years worth of observations with the Fermi Large Area Telescope in orbit of the Earth. That telescope discovered significant gamma ray detections also coming from the Sun. Those detections were of lower energy than the HAWC results, however pointed in the very same basic instructions.
When it was in a relatively peaceful state, what was especially surprising about these observations was that these incredibly high-energy particles appeared to be given off from the Sun. Periodically solar storms and flares rip throughout the surface of the Sun, and naturally these produce huge amounts of energies which can easily develop high-energy particles. However when the Sun is peaceful its much harder to determine an adequately large source of energy to power these type of processes.
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Just recently astronomers captured a strange mystery: extremely high-energy particles spitting out of the surface area of the Sun when it was reasonably calm. What was specifically unexpected about these observations was that these incredibly high-energy particles seemed to be given off from the Sun when it was in a relatively peaceful state. Periodically solar storms and flares rip across the surface of the Sun, and naturally these generate enormous amounts of energies which can quickly develop high-energy particles. It appears that the mystery of the high-energy particles coming from the Sun is just skin deep. These results indicate that our Sun is capable of speeding up particles to really high energies extremely efficiently, even when there is absolutely nothing disorderly occurring on the surface.
It seems that the secret of the high-energy particles coming from the Sun is just skin deep. The photosphere is the outermost noticeable layer of the Sun which gives off the light that we can see.
The cosmic rays go into the Sun and reach the chromosphere, where they get tangled up with the complex and strong magnetic fields there. They get sped up to incredibly high energies and then spit back out of the Sun. As soon as complimentary they knock into a random proton that occurs to be hanging out near the surface area of the Sun, which produces a flash of gamma ray radiation.
These results suggest that our Sun is capable of accelerating particles to really high energies extremely efficiently, even when there is nothing chaotic taking place on the surface. Our Sun is a complex, vibrant, energetic star. And this work shows simply how effective it can be.
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