Pictured above are
images of the Radio Galaxy 0313-192 (close-up on left), labeled “a
giant radio source from the wrong kind of galaxy”—a
spiral. For many years it has been assumed that spiral galaxies do
not emit the kinds of jets and associated radio signals recorded in
the wide-angle view (right). Of course we can only view the galaxy
edge-on. But by analyzing the vertical structure of the dust and
“blue star forming regions” close to the plane of the galaxy,
astronomers were able to confirm that it is in fact a spiral.
The radio images
were taken with the Very Large Array (VLA) at a wavelength of 20
centimeters, and the pictures above superimpose these on Hubble
Space Telescope images of the same galaxy, showing the relationship
of radio emissions to the rotational axis of the galaxy. Jets of
charged particles are moving in opposite directions close to the
rotational axis, at velocities approaching the speed of light.
Electrons moving at
such velocities emit “synchrotron” radiation, characterized by a
frequency significantly higher than the usual radiation of electrons
in plasma. This is the radiation that our radio telescopes (such as
the VLA) detect as the energetic signature of events not seen in the
electromagnetic spectrum of visible light. They are direct witnesses
to electric currents on a galactic scale.
Synchrotron
radiation was first brought to the attention of astronomers by
Hannes Alfvén and Nicolai Herlofson in 1950—a remarkable fact considering
that, at the time,
plasma and magnetic fields were thought to have little, if anything,
to do with the “island universes” of remote galaxies.
Decades later, when
synchrotron radiation could not be denied, it began to enter the
lexicon of astronomy. So there were attempts to simulate synchrotron
radiation using only gravity and magnetic fields. But Alfvén had
already come to realize that magnetism alone is not sufficient.
Causative electric fields and currents are essential. The
simulations failed.
Nevertheless, the
astronomers’ attempts to get by without electricity have continued.
Here is the description of the standard view of polar jets, as given
in a Hubble news release on Radio Galaxy 0313-192: “Astronomers
believe such jets originate at the cores of galaxies, where
supermassive black holes provide the tremendous gravitational energy
to accelerate particles to nearly the speed of light. Magnetic
fields twisted tightly by spinning disks of material being sucked
into the black hole are presumed to narrow the speeding particles
into thin jets, like a nozzle on a garden hose”.
There is something about the
simplified language of news releases that puts an exclamation point
to the contradictions faced by a failing theoretical framework. How
is it that the “tremendous gravitational energy” accelerates
particles away from a galaxy? (“It means that if you push on
your wagon hard enough, it will go in the opposite direction,” says
one skeptic). Trying to drive such a system with gravitational
dynamics alone, calling upon magnetic fields but ignoring the
electric currents that are necessary to sustain magnetic fields,
then resorting to the analogy of a “nozzle on a garden hose”, can
only add to the exasperation of critics. Plasma cosmologists,
together with such electrical theorists as Wallace Thornhill and Don
Scott, wonder aloud why anyone would cling to a gravity-only,
electrically sterile universe so tenaciously. After all, the galaxy
under consideration is distinguished by the presence of
gravity-defying jets, emitting radiation that would not be
there in the absence electric currents.
While astronomers
marvel at the mysterious force that “holds the jets together”, the
electrical theorists remind us that the jets are
self-confining Birkeland currents in the plasma environment
of the galaxy. It is in the nature of Birkeland currents to induce
magnetic fields, confining the jets’ to narrow paths over cosmic
distances.
Since the attempts
to “hold together” such jets experimentally—without electricity—have
already failed, it is surely time for astronomers to re-examine
their premises.
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