American scientists from the University of Rochester Laser Energy Laboratory have created a special type of plasma found on Earth in deep space. This matter is known as relativistic plasma, consisting of electron-positron pairs and antimatter. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Nature Communications (NatComms).
Beyond our planet, relativistic plasma can be found around neutron stars and black holes, but producing it in the laboratory remains a challenge.
“The laboratory production of plasma ‘fireballs’ composed of matter, antimatter and photons remains a research goal at the forefront of high energy density science,” said project leader physicist Charles Arrowsmith.
During an experiment at the HiRadMat facility at the superproton accelerator of the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Geneva, scientists obtained beams of extremely powerful, quasi-neutral electron-positron pairs.
Each proton carries kinetic energy 440 times its rest energy. Because the momentum is so high, when a proton splits an atom, it releases the components inside (quarks and gluons). Thanks to these properties, the beam produced in the laboratory contained enough particles to behave like cosmic plasma.
According to the authors of the discovery, their discovery paves the way for a better understanding of the fundamental principles of the Universe.
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Source: Gazeta
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