Astrophysicists solve 'empty sky' gamma-ray mystery

Date:
September 20, 2021
Source:
Australian National University
Summary:
Star-forming galaxies are responsible for creating gamma-rays that
until now had not been associated with a known origin.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Star-forming galaxies are responsible for creating gamma-rays that until
now had not been associated with a known origin, researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) have confirmed.


==========================================================================
Lead author Dr Matt Roth, from the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, said until now it has been unclear what created gamma-rays
-- one of the most energetic forms of light in the Universe -- that
appear in patches of seemingly 'empty sky'.

The discovery could offer clues to help astronomers solve other mysteries
of the Universe, such as what kind of particles make up Dark Matter --
one of the holy grails of astrophysics.

"It's a significant milestone to finally discover the origins of this
gamma-ray emission, solving a mystery of the Universe astronomers have
been trying to decipher since the 1960s," Dr Roth said.

"There are two obvious sources that produce large amounts of gamma-rays
seen in the Universe. One when gas falls into the supermassive black
holes which are found at the centres of all galaxies -- called an active galactic nucleus (AGN) -- and the other associated with star formation
in the disks of galaxies.

"We modelled the gamma-ray emission from all the galaxies in the Universe
and compared our results with the predictions for other sources and
found that it is star-forming galaxies that produce the majority of this diffuse gamma-ray radiation and not the AGN process." ANU researchers
were able to pinpoint what created these mysterious gamma-rays after
obtaining a better understanding of how cosmic rays -- particles that
travel at speeds very close to the speed of light -- move through the
gas between the stars. Cosmic rays are important because they create
large amounts of gamma-ray emission in star-forming galaxies when they
collide with the interstellar gas.

Data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and Fermi Gamma-Ray Space
Telescope was a key resource used to uncover the unknown origins of
the gamma-rays.

Researchers analysed information about many galaxies such as their star- formation rates, total masses, physical size and distances from Earth.

"Our model can also be used to make predictions for radio emission -- the electromagnetic radiation that has a frequency similar to a car radio --
from star-forming galaxies, which could help researchers understand more
about the internal structure of galaxies," Dr Roth said.

"We are currently looking at producing maps of the gamma-ray sky that can
be used to inform upcoming gamma-ray observations from next-generation telescopes.

This includes the Cherenkov Telescope Array, which Australia is
involved in.

"This new technology will hopefully allow us to
observe many more star-forming galaxies in gamma-rays
than we can detect with current gamma-ray telescopes." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Australian_National_University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Matt A. Roth, Mark R. Krumholz, Roland M. Crocker, Silvia Celli. The
diffuse g-ray background is dominated by star-forming
galaxies. Nature, 2021; 597 (7876): 341 DOI:
10.1038/s41586-021-03802-x ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210920111407.htm

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