Enigmatic cosmic ray electrons indicate rare source, to help study how universe functions

The rare discovery of vibrant cosmic-ray electrons is helping scientists find out where these mysterious particles originated from.

This study using the CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET), a Japan-led international mission funded by the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) in collaboration with the Italian Space Agency (ASI), NASA and several universities in Japan, Italy, and the United States, will contribute to a better understanding of how the universe functions.

Since 2015, more than 7 million particles have struck the CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) pinned to the expansive back of the International Space Station.

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This extensive cluster has given scientists a potent dataset that, they say, indicates at least one nearby source of cosmic-ray electrons.

"The most exciting part is seeing things at the highest energies," says astrophysicist Nicholas Cannady of the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and member of the CALET Collaboration led by astrophysicist Shoji Torii of the University of Waseda in Japan.

"We have some candidates above 10 teraelectronvolts – and if it is borne out that these are real electron events, it's really a smoking gun for clear evidence of a nearby source."

Energetic sources

Scientists believe that the origin of such particles could possibly be via energetic sources.

One of the possible sources, as per the scientists, could be supernova remnants, which spur the particles pushing them through outer space, but there is a possibility for other sources too.

The other, as per the study published in Physical Review Letters, is related to the theoretical annihilation of dark matter.

Some of the high-energy electron sensors also suffer from interference from fast-flying protons.

"These CALET observations open the tantalizing possibility that matter from a particular nearby supernova remnant can be measured at Earth," says physicist T. Gregory Guzik of Louisiana State University, leader of the US branch of the CALET Collaboration.

"Continued CALET measurement through the life of the International Space Station will help shed new light on the origin and transport of relativistic matter in our galaxy."

(With inputs from agencies)