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X-rays reveal the magnetic field lighting up a stellar graveyard

An X-ray imaging mission has unveiled the magnetic field in the environment of a dead star. The order and symmetry of the field will reshape our understanding of how it accelerates particles to ultra-high energies.
  1. Samar Safi-Harb

    1. Samar Safi-Harb is in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2, Canada.

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When massive stars die in dramatic supernovae, the beautiful stellar debris lingers in space for tens of thousands of years. The core of the dead star becomes a pulsar — a rapidly rotating, highly magnetized pulsating star the size of a city, which spews out a wind of fast-moving, electrically charged particles. This pulsar wind carries a strong magnetic field, typically shaped like a doughnut, that generates a gas cloud called a pulsar wind nebula as it slams into the surrounding material1, accelerating the particles to energies much higher than can be achieved on Earth. Writing in Nature, Xie et al.2 report imaging of the magnetic field in the acceleration zone of the Vela pulsar wind nebula, revealing a surprisingly highly ordered and symmetrical structure. This could help to shed light on why these nebulae are among the most powerful particle accelerators in the Universe3.

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Nature 612, 641-642 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-04445-2

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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