Researchers have created a miniature version of supernova shock waves in a lab here on Earth to solve a long-standing cosmic mystery. When stars die and explode in supernovae, they create shock waves. These powerful shock waves blast out cosmic rays, or highly energetic particles, into the universe. The waves act almost like particle accelerators, pushing these particles out so fast that they approach the speed of light. However, scientists have yet to fully understand exactly how and why the shock waves accelerate these particles.
In this image, computer simulations show the turbulent structure of the magnetic field in two shock waves moving away from each other
“These are fascinating systems, but because they are so far away it’s hard to study them,” said Frederico Fiuza, who led the new study. To better study these cosmic shock waves, scientists brought them to Earth. Well, not literally, but researchers have created a scaled-down version of supernova remnants. “We are not trying to make supernova remnants in the lab, but we can learn more about the physics of astrophysical shocks there and validate models,” Fiuza said.