Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology have created a laboratory model of a cosmic jet by generating a proton beam that travels at a speed close to light. This achievement demonstrates precise plasma control and points to potential applications in energy production, radiotherapy, and space technology. The finding adds to the growing field of laboratory plasma physics and its relevance to real-world technologies.
In astrophysics, space jets are powerful streams of plasma in which particles move at relativistic speeds. They form in the accretion disks around black holes and neutron stars, where energy is released during disk formation. This energy can launch matter and radiation into space. The interaction between rotating material and magnetic fields creates a force that directs a portion of the material away from the disk center, giving rise to a jet that extends outward through space.
The researchers modeled this phenomenon using a laser setup that delivered pulses lasting one picosecond onto the surface of a thin copper target 10 micrometers in diameter. As a result of this irradiation, a proton beam traveling at almost the speed of light was produced, providing a tangible laboratory analogue of a space jet.
It was found that the proton beam forms due to cyclotron instability, a process that generates currents amplifying the magnetic field along the beam. This interaction causes the beam to bend and narrow, accelerating the particles in one direction and breaking the plasma jet into multiple filaments, each following its own path through the chamber.
From a theoretical and experimental viewpoint, a professor from the Department of Theoretical Physics at MIPT explained that the development of cyclotron instability through the generation of cyclotron radiation plays a key role in several processes in a magnetized plasma. These include self-localization into solitons, the conversion of rotational motion into translational motion, and the acceleration of charged particles by cyclotron forces, as well as the fragmentation of a plasma jet into distinct formations.
The researchers say that understanding the dynamics of space jets could advance astrophysical knowledge and support the development of technologies based on controlled plasma. Such technologies hold potential for energy systems, medical applications such as radiotherapy, and even spaceflight, where precise plasma control could enable new propulsion or shielding concepts.
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