{"id":640762,"date":"2026-05-01T12:41:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T12:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/640762\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T12:41:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T12:41:11","slug":"dampe-telescope-reshapes-understanding-of-cosmic-rays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/640762\/","title":{"rendered":"DAMPE telescope reshapes understanding of cosmic rays"},"content":{"rendered":"

A multinational team of scientists working with the Dark Matter Particle Explorer<\/a> (DAMPE) space telescope has uncovered a consistent pattern in cosmic rays, offering new insight into their origin and behaviour.<\/p>\n

The research, involving experts from the University of Geneva, identifies a shared feature across multiple types of high-energy particles. The findings have been peer-reviewed and published in Nature.<\/a><\/p>\n

The study focuses on cosmic rays, which are highly energetic particles that travel through space and occasionally strike Earth. Despite being discovered over a century ago, their precise origins remain unresolved.<\/p>\n

By analysing detailed measurements from the DAMPE satellite, researchers have now observed a phenomenon known as \u201cspectral softening\u201d occurring consistently across different particle types.<\/p>\n

The result is significant: it strongly supports theories that the acceleration and movement of cosmic rays depend on a property called rigidity, rather than energy per particle.<\/p>\n

This narrows the field of viable explanations and marks a meaningful step toward understanding how these particles are generated and propagate through the galaxy.<\/p>\n

What are cosmic rays?<\/p>\n

Cosmic rays are among the most energetic particles known in the Universe<\/a>. They are primarily composed of protons but also include heavier atomic nuclei such as helium, carbon, oxygen, and iron.<\/p>\n

These particles travel at near-light speeds and carry energies far exceeding those produced by human-made particle accelerators.<\/p>\n

Scientists believe cosmic rays originate from extreme astrophysical environments, including supernova explosions, rapidly spinning neutron stars (pulsars), and jets emitted by black holes.<\/p>\n

However, pinpointing their exact sources has proven difficult due to the way magnetic fields bend their paths through space.<\/p>\n

Understanding cosmic rays is critical because they provide indirect evidence about the most violent processes in the Universe.<\/p>\n

They also play a role in shaping interstellar chemistry and can impact space weather<\/a>, which has implications for satellites and astronaut safety.<\/p>\n

DAMPE mission delivers high-precision data<\/p>\n

Launched in December 2015, the DAMPE satellite was designed to investigate high-energy particles with unprecedented precision. One of its primary objectives is to explore whether dark matter<\/a> contributes to the production of cosmic rays.<\/p>\n

The mission has benefited from significant contributions by the University of Geneva, particularly from its Department of Nuclear and Particle Physics.<\/p>\n

The Geneva team developed advanced artificial intelligence (AI) methods to reconstruct particle events and played a key role in analysing proton, helium, and carbon data.<\/p>\n

A crucial component of the satellite is the Silicon-Tungsten Tracker (STK), a detector that enables precise measurement of particle trajectories and charge. This technology has been instrumental in identifying subtle patterns within the cosmic rays data.<\/p>\n

Discovery of a universal feature<\/p>\n

The central finding of the study is the identification of a shared behaviour across all examined cosmic ray nuclei.<\/p>\n

Researchers observed that beyond a specific threshold \u2013 around 15 teraelectron-volts (TV) in rigidity \u2013 the number of particles drops off more sharply than expected.<\/p>\n

This effect, known as spectral softening, indicates that the energy distribution of cosmic rays changes in a consistent way regardless of the particle type.<\/p>\n

This pattern suggests a universal mechanism governing how these particles are accelerated and transported.<\/p>\n

Importantly, the data rules out competing theories that prioritise energy per nucleon as the main factor. The statistical confidence of this conclusion exceeds 99.999%, making it one of the most robust findings in the field to date.<\/p>\n

Implications for astrophysics research<\/p>\n

This discovery provides tighter constraints on theoretical models describing the origin and propagation of cosmic rays.<\/p>\n

It supports the idea that magnetic fields and particle rigidity play a dominant role in shaping their behaviour across the galaxy.<\/p>\n

The findings also enhance our understanding of high-energy astrophysical sources and the interstellar medium through which these particles travel.<\/p>\n

By refining existing models, researchers can better interpret future observations and design more targeted experiments.<\/p>\n

While cosmic rays remain a complex puzzle, the DAMPE mission has delivered a critical piece. The identification of a universal feature moves the field closer to answering long-standing questions about where these particles come from and how they gain such extraordinary energy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A multinational team of scientists working with the Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) space telescope has uncovered a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640763,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[3508,49,48,66,11540],"class_list":["post-640762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-astrophysics","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science","tag-space-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}