Discovery advances cosmic ray theory

[United Press International]

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., April 29 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have
developed a new theory to explain how giant radio galaxies create
cosmic rays.
Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory said the theory
could be the basis for a whole new understanding of the ways in
which the rays move through space.
Radio waves from the giant galaxies are detectable with
sensitive Earth-based instruments such as the Very Large Array radio
telescopes in Socorro, N.M. The scientists used two decades of data
collected on seven giant radio galaxies to study their cosmic rays.
They concluded the high energy content of the waves suggests giant
radio galaxies generate them via a process called magnetic field
reconnection.
In magnetic field reconnection, magnetic field lines connect
and vanish, converting the field's energy into particles. The sun
uses reconnection to produce solar flares and the phenomenon is used
in experimental fusion reactors called tokamaks. It also occurs in
the interaction between the solar wind and the Earth's magnetic
field and is considered a principal cause of magnetic storms in the
planet's upper atmosphere.