The Observatory sheds light on the source of antimatter redundancy

The Observatory sheds light on the source of antimatter redundancy

The HAWC Observatory, located at an altitude of 13,500 feet, uses 300 massive water reservoirs to produce high-energy particle collision products in the upper atmospheric layer.

HAWC Gamma Observatory has provided a new perspective on high-energy luminous flux from stellar neighbors. In 2008, researchers caught an unexpectedly large amount of positrons a few hundred miles above the earth's atmosphere. Since then, two competing explanations have arisen: additional particles can occur from the nearest destroyed stars (pulsars) or the whole thing is related to dark matter processes.

New data allowed the first measurements of two pulsars. But analysis has shown that they are unlikely to be the source of an excess amount of positrons. Of course, this does not hint at 100% fidelity of the variant with matter, but any new theory should take into account all the collected nuances.

Eye in the sky

Collecting a huge amount of light allows HAWC to take clear pictures of individual gamma-ray sources. The most energetic occur at the death of large stars, like supernova pulsars. But the light does not come from the stars themselves. It forms when a rotating pulsar accelerates particles to extremely high energies and causes them to break up into photons with a lower energy level. The size of the field of fragments around powerful pulsars tells how rapidly the substance moves relative to the rotating stars. It also leads to an accurate measurement of the speed of positrons and an understanding of how many of them get to Earth.

The sources of positrons were considered by Geminga and PSR B0656 + 14 pulsars. It turned out that matter does not move away at the required fast speed in order to reach our planet. This allowed to remove the pulsars from the list of suspects.

HAWC scans 1/3 of celestial space, located at an altitude of 13,500 feet near the volcano Sierra Negra. Presented more than 300 massive water reservoirs. When gamma rays crash into the upper atmospheric layer, atoms in the air explode, forming a shower of particles moving at light speed to the surface. This shower falls on the reservoirs and creates coordinated blue flashes.

Researchers hope to address this issue in more detail. But every day there are more and more supporters of the variant with dark matter.

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