The problem of the origin of cosmic particles suddenly crossed paths with another very important problem.
Having solved the mystery of the birth of cosmic particles - and we are close to it - it will be possible to recreate the processes on Earth that produce such high energy particles.
The time has passed when (as it was in the 1930s) physicists who dreamed of bombing nuclei with space particles were considered fantasists. They were said to be similar to those of the scholarly men who were engaged in figuring out far-fetched questions like how many traits could fit on the tip of a pin.
Now, to study the structure of matter, scientists are building sources of artificial space particles - accelerators - on Earth. One of the largest is the synchrophasotron in Dubna. But it is also far from natural accelerators. Space accelerators sometimes send so powerful particles to Earth that each of them, figuratively speaking, can light an electric light bulb for a moment. However, such particles of nature gives very sparingly. But it is they that physicists dream of.
However, it is impossible to create space power accelerators on the basis of mastered principles. Judge for yourself - the installation giving a stream of the particles similar to space, should have a magnet length of about 20 kilometers. The weight of iron of this magnet will be hundreds of thousands of tons! If scientists want to implement such a fantastic project, it will take dozens of years to complete it. It will take a powerful power plant to power the accelerator alone.
Therefore, in order to increase the energy of artificial cosmic particles to the values found in nature, it will take fundamentally new methods of their acceleration.
Soviet scientists are already developing new principles for building accelerators, which should bring the energy of accelerated particles to the limit energy of space particles.
At the same time, special magnets weighing "only" 10...20 thousand tons will be used. But to control the process of acceleration will have to use a cybernetic system that includes an electronic computer. In the meantime, physicists widely use particles coming from the depths of the universe. Born from astrophysical cataclysms, these fast particles penetrate the entire space. But how do they fly: uniformly, like rain, or in packs, like birds?
Scientists study the laws of motion of space particles on Earth and even above it, in the upper atmosphere and in outer space.
Already on the second artificial satellite tiny "cigars" flew to interstellar space. These counters don't determine which particle got knocked up in them, but they are conscientiously counting them. Such workers together with the satellite managed to fly around the globe in an hour and a half and count the particles of cosmic rays flying from the abyss of the universe. In the next few turns, they repeated their calculations and thus collected completely unique information.
With respect you take a fragile counter tube in your hands. Its metal surface is ribbed. This protects against damage. Electrical impulses from the meters were placed in a special circuit, which counted them. The result of the count was transmitted to Earth by radio.
Miniature counters worked on the second satellite for seven days and helped to determine the change in the intensity of cosmic rays in time. On the following satellites and rockets the data were replenished. Now it is possible to compare the obtained results with different astronomical phenomena, with different assumptions about the laws of motion of invisible particles.
The latest data suggest that the universe has huge particle-filled reservoirs traveling. These giant clots of particles are formed by magnetic fields pulsating in space. This mechanism is as ancient as the world and almost as mysterious... It is the key to understanding the work of the space accelerator. But this key is not found yet. When will it be found?
Scientists with passion decide the crossword puzzle, but not the usual magazine, and the one that makes a man of nature. Another or two letters, the last missing link and the guessed word will finally reveal the secret.