When IXPE data did come in, the team found that the magnetic fields are definitely messy - they have high turbulence, "but not so high that we couldn't detect the polarization," he added. "That would be important," Slane told in an email, "but it's a little disappointing to say 'I didn't see anything, and it's really important!'" The team's simulations had previously shown that the signals they were hoping to detect may be too small, which would mean the magnetic field is very messy. However, such signals are sensitive to how tangled up the magnetic fields are: When turbulence in these fields is high, the radiation is less directional and less intense, meaning IXPE can't detect the polarization signals as strongly. To ultimately map the magnetic field geometry, the team was looking for signals that showed how polarized the radiation from X-rays is. So by the time they move any noticeable distance from this rim, "they have lost so much energy that they aren't producing X-rays any longer," Slane told in an email.īefore IXPE data came in, Slane and his team were not sure what they would find, he added. Researchers explain that the red rim - the place where Tycho accelerates particles to light-like speeds - is very thin because electrons radiating X-rays lose their energy very quickly. 21 to 25, according to the study.įrom the collected data, the team was able to study X-rays produced by highly energetic electrons close to Tycho's rim as they zipped across magnetic fields. The three identical X-ray telescopes onboard IXPE studied Tycho twice in 2022: From late June to early July, and from Dec. Slane's team used data from NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer ( IXPE) space observatory. ![]() ![]() The process "involves a delicate dance between order and chaos," said Patrick Slane, senior astrophysicist at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and co-author of the latest study, in a statement (opens in new tab). Researchers say the latest findings bring them a step closer to learning how supernova remnants like Tycho become giant cosmic particle accelerators. Now, researchers have studied some very excited electrons close to where they get accelerated to light-like speeds in Tycho, whose blast released as much energy as the sun would emit in 10 billion years.
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