Scientists have found numerous powerful particles in recent years, including the Higgs Boson, also known as the “God Particle,” discovered at CERN, and the “Oh My God!” particle, an unimaginably energetic cosmic ray discovered in 1991. However, the researchers have identified a brand new subatomic particle with an energy one million times larger than what humanity’s most powerful particle accelerators can ever produce.
Scientists discovered the Amaterasu particle, named after the ‘Sun Goddess’ in Japanese mythology, at the Telescope Array, a cosmic ray observatory in Utah’s West Desert.
Cosmic rays are particles that come from vast regions of space. The origin of cosmic rays is unknown, but scientists believe that most galactical phenomena, like as black holes, gamma-ray bursts, and neutron star collapse, produce the intense, mysterious rays.
The ‘Sun Goddess’ particle was spotted by the Telescope Array on May 27, 2021, when it collided with the atmosphere above Utah. Amaterasu activated 23 of the 507 ping-pong table-size surface detectors, with a predicted energy of roughly 244 exa-electron volts (1 exa-electron = 1 billion gigaelectron-volts).
The “Oh My God particle” discovered more than 30 years ago had a charge of 320 exa-electron volts. According to NASA, an electron in the polar aurora contains around 40,000 electron volts of energy.
Scientists are baffled by the origin
Despite the immense energy associated with the particle, scientists have been perplexed by its origin. Most cosmic rays are traced back to an interstellar-level megaevent in the galaxy, but according to John Matthews, a co-spokesman for the Telescope Array Collaboration, the Amaterasu particle appears to have originated from the Local Void, an empty region of space bordering the Milky Way galaxy.
“If you take the two highest-energy events — the one that we just found, the ‘Oh-My-God’ particle — those don’t even seem to point to anything. It should be something relatively close. Astronomers with visible telescopes can’t see anything really big and really violent,” Matthews said.
Despite the uncertainties surrounding the ‘Sun goddess’ particle’s origin, scientists believe it is a crucial signal from the universe concerning some very energetic event that we cannot yet interpret. However, efforts must be made to determine the origin of these enigmatic particles.