How the Powerful Jets of Young Stars Form: Magnetic Fields

Scientists may have solved the mystery behind the super-powerful astrophysical jets that young stars emit. They've successfully tested a new model that explains how magnetic fields form these emissions in young stars.

Whenever an object in space forms a rotating disc of matter, it's likely to give rise to a jet, which is a thin, straight emission of matter which emanates from the disc's center and that looks like a spinning top. Yet how these thin beams first form within the disc is something scientists have long puzzled over.

In order to better understand jet formation, the scientists set up a lab experiment to test the physics of the process. The scientists hit a plastic sample with laser light which set the electrons at the target's core in motion. This transformed the solid plastic object into conductive plasma. On a small scale, the plasma represents a young star's accumulation of matter.

The researchers then exposed the plasma to a very powerful pulsed magnetic field. Under this influence, the normally widely scattered plasma focused and formed a hollow center. This produced a shockwave from which a very thin beam started to project-a jet.

"X-ray measurements of actual jets show these features at the exact same points as our true-to-scale plasma model in the lab," said Thomas Cowan, one of the researchers, in a news release.

In fact, the scientists were able to create a model that is capable of explaining the formation of jets solely by way of magnetic fields. This, in particular, reveals how young stars produce these jets in the first place.

The findings reveal a bit more about our universe. Not only that, but it's possible that pulsed magnetic fields and a particularly thin proton beam could even be utilized for applications on Earth, such as radiation therapy.

The findings are published in the journal Science.