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Wukong released scientific achievements and accurately drew the energy spectrum of high-energy proto

(original title: dark matter satellite Wukong releases another scientific achievement)

China's dark matter satellite project team announced the second batch of scientific achievements on the 28th. Based on the data of the first two and a half years, 'Wukong' used space experiments to accurately draw the energy spectrum of high-energy proton cosmic rays for the first time in the world, and observed the new structure of the energy spectrum.

The study was published in science advances, a subsidiary of science, on the 28th.

The earth on which human beings live is bombarded by high-energy particles from outer space all the time. These particles are collectively referred to as cosmic rays or cosmic rays, which carry the key information of a variety of Astrophysical Processes. Since 1912, human beings have studied cosmic rays for more than 100 years, but there has been no accurate answer to the basic problems such as where they come from and how they are accelerated.

This time, 'Wukong' used space experiments for the first time to realize the accurate measurement of the proton energy spectrum of cosmic rays in the energy range of 0.04-100 TEV (1tev = 1 trillion electron volts). Chang Jin, chief scientist of dark matter satellite, introduced that protons are the largest number of particles in cosmic rays, accounting for about 90% of the total. The high-energy proton energy spectrum accurately drawn this time provides an important basis for the study of cosmic ray physics.

In the first two and a half years of work, 'Wukong' collected about 20 million high-energy proton data. Based on this, the scientific research team drew an accurate proton energy spectrum of high-energy cosmic rays. The energy spectrum clearly shows the 'inflection' structure in which the proton flow first rises and then falls, and the falling structure in the second half is first discovered by 'Wukong'.

'Why & lsquo; Turn & rsquo;, Probably because the earth is right next to a cosmic ray source. " Yuan Qiang, a researcher at the Zijinshan Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that if follow-up research is further deepened, mankind is expected to directly locate this adjacent cosmic ray source.

Fan Yizhong, a researcher at the Zijinshan Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the cosmic ray source is equivalent to a natural super particle accelerator. Exploring the high-energy particles in cosmic rays is likely to open up a new world outside the existing physical model.

Wukong is the first astronomical satellite launched by China. It was launched on December 17, 2015. It was originally planned to run for three years on Sunday. Since this year, Wukong has entered the stage of "extended service", but so far, the payloads on the satellite are still in good condition.