In a first-of-its-kind experiment, scientists have recreated "cosmic fireballs" here on Earth in a particle accelerator.The experiment aimed to investigate the stability of jets of high-temperature gas or plasma blasted at Earth by feeding supermassive black hole-powered galactic engines called blazars. This could, in turn, solve the mystery of hidden magnetic fields and missing high-energy gamma-rays.
Scientists from the University of Oxford and the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s (STFC) Central Laser Facility (CLF) teamed up and turned to the Super Proton Synchrotron based at CERN’s HiRadMat (High-Radiation to Materials) facility to generate electron–positron pairs. They then blasted these matter-antimatter counterpart pairs through 3.3 feet (1 meter) of plasma, recreating conditions in the jets of feeding supermassive black holes known as blazars. This enabled them to simulate some of the universe's most extreme physics.
