‘Ghostly’ neutrino from star-shredding black hole reveals cosmic particle accelerator
A ghostly particle that smashed into Antarctica in 2019 has been traced back to a black hole tearing apart a star while acting like a giant cosmic particle accelerator. Scientists investigated the extremely high-energy neutrino they spotted on 1 October 2019 using the IceCube Neutrino Observatory.
“It smashed into the Antarctic ice with a remarkable energy of more than 100 teraelectronvolts,” said researcher Anna Franckowiak. “For comparison, that’s at least ten times the maximum particle energy that can be achieved in the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider.” To discover the origins of such a powerful neutrino, the scientists traced its path through space. They found that it likely came from the galaxy designated 2MASX J20570298+1412165 in the constellation Delphinus, the Dolphin, and is located about 750 million light years from Earth.
About six months before scientists detected the high-energy neutrino, astronomers witnessed a glow from this galaxy using the Zwicky Transient Facility on Mount Palomar in California. This light likely came from a black hole shredding a star, a so-called tidal disruption event dubbed AT2019dsg. This discovery marks only the second time scientists have traced a high-energy neutrino back to its source.