Pinball Wizard

[robnissen]

There is an interesting article in SDC today:<br /><br /><font color="yellow"> In a cosmic game of pinball, black holes fling high-energy protons into space, where they zigzag around at near light-speeds before smashing into low-energy protons, finds a new study.<br /><br /><br />Then the collisions send bursts of gamma rays flying out from the center of our galaxy, which explains for the first time the mechanism for the high-energy jets first spotted in 2004. <br /><br />. . .<br />The model found that gravity from Sagittarius A* hurls protons from the magnetized plasma to near light-speeds with energies as high as 100 trillion electron volts. As if shot from a pinball machine’s flippers—the black hole in this case—the particles zigzag along random paths so that it takes thousands of years for each to make it beyond 10 light-years of the black hole. <br /><br /><br />Once in interstellar space, the protons smash into low-energy protons to form pions. These particles of matter immediately decay into high-energy gamma rays that shoot in all directions.</font><br /><br />The one thing I don't understand is why the particles zia-zag. IMO they should go straight (ignoring curving caused by gravity) until they run into something and impart their energy. Does anyone have any thoughts on what could make them zig-zag.

 

[doubletruncation]

Interesting article - thanks for the post!<br /><br /><font color="yellow">The one thing I don't understand is why the particles zia-zag. IMO they should go straight (ignoring curving caused by gravity) until they run into something and impart their energy. Does anyone have any thoughts on what could make them zig-zag.</font><br /><br />I'd guess that it's due to magnetic fields which deflect particles and can be randomly oriented (since they're carried around by the turbulent plasma). <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>