Perhaps you are unacquainted with the term ‘magnetars’, curious celestial entities that fall into the category of neutron stars. Magnetars have caught the attention of astronomers and physicists globally due to their remarkably potent magnetic fields, which are reported to be approximately a trillion times more forceful than our planet Earth’s.
To elucidate the scale of their prodigious power, were one to venture just 1,000 km – the equivalent of 600 miles – closer to a magnetar than advisable, the outcome would be catastrophic. The formidable magnetic field would rend the electrons from your atoms, transmuting your corporeal form into an ethereal cloud of monatomic ions, comprised of distinctive atoms bereft of electrons, as observed by EarthSky.
However, researchers have recently made a startling discovery. Pockets may exist here on our beloved Earth, where magnetic pulses occur with a strength that surpasses that of the seemingly indomitable magnetars, casting these cosmic behemoths into realms of relative ineffectiveness. You might be pondering how such a phenomenon could transpire. Unsurprisingly, the answer is an intricate one.
Our story commences at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, under the aegis of the United States Department of Energy. This tale revolves around the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), an esoteric piece of advanced machinery operating in the lab’s confines.
(Roger Stoutenburgh and Jen Abramowitz/Brookhaven National Laboratory)
Following vigorous collisions of various heavy ion nuclei within the behemoth particle accelerator, laboratory physicists unravelled manifestations of magnetic fields that shattered existing records.
By scrutinising the movements of an even more diminutive class of particles – quarks and gluons, infinitesimal building blocks of all observable matter in the cosmos, researchers aspire to unlock new dimensions of understanding regarding the profound mechanisms governing atomic structures.
In this atomic microcosm preside antiquarks, the nemeses of quarks. Each type of quark has a corresponding antiquark, sharing the same mass, energy, and pure quantum characteristics, although with adverse charge and quantum numbers. The fleeting nature of the lives of quarks and antiquarks within atomic structures poses a significant challenge. The more we comprehend their intrinsic behaviour and interactions, the more knowledge we amass about the intimate structure of matter, feeding our understanding of the cosmos.
To accurately chart the activity of these fundamental particles, a robust magnetic field is indispensable. The scholars at Brookhaven utilised the RHIC to generate off-centre collisions of heavy atomic nuclei – in this specific instance, gold. This impactful collision generated a powerful magnetic force, inducing an electrical current within the liberated quarks and gluons.
(Tiffany Bowman and Jen Abramowitz/Brookhaven National Laboratory)
Diyu Shen, a distinguished physicist from China’s Fudan University, confirmed that this is the inaugural measurement of how the magnetic field interacts with the quark-gluon plasma (QGP). The magnitude of the fields was so immense that it was challenging to observe and quantify. However, the research team was able to monitor the collective movements of charged particles, discern charge-dependent deflections, and prove Faraday Induction’s occurrence. The acquired data will help them further explore the intricate interactions of quarks and gluons, providing a deeper understanding of the universe’s composition.
