A Princeton-led team of researchers has discovered a revolutionary way to generate high-energy shock waves in the lab.
Throughout the Universe, supersonic shock waves propel cosmic rays and supernova particles to velocities near the speed of light.
The most high-energy of these astrophysical shocks occur too far outside our Solar System to be studied in detail and have long puzzled scientists.
Shocks closer to Earth can be detected by spacecraft, but they fly by too quickly to probe a wave’s formation.
Now Princeton University researcher Dr. Derek Schaeffer and co-authors have generated the first high-energy shock waves in a laboratory setting, opening the door to new understanding of these mysterious processes.
“We have for the first time developed a platform for studying highly energetic shocks with greater flexibility and control than is possible with spacecraft,” Dr. Schaeffer said.
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