As a pulsar speeds through the interstellar medium, it leaves behind a long, radio-emitting tail shaped by ram pressure. In the Lighthouse Nebula, however, the X-ray emission and radio streaks show unexpected orientations, offering clues to how cosmic rays escape and trace surrounding magnetic fields.
Massive galaxies all seem to end up quiet and quenched—but the physics inside them can look wildly different. This story explores how AGN-driven cosmic rays reshape galaxies from the inside out, changing local conditions without altering their ultimate fate.
Cosmic rays don’t always reveal their origins honestly—magnetic fields can bend their paths and create “mirage halos” that look like real gamma-ray sources. New simulations show how a single pulsar can masquerade as three, reshaping how we interpret TeV observations.
Classic theory says only big clouds should survive galactic winds, but these new simulations show that’s not the whole story. Whether a cloud lives or dies depends not only on its size, but also on the environment it’s sitting in.
Cosmic rays, born from powerful events like exploding stars, are a key but elusive part of a galaxy’s interstellar medium. Today’s paper combines gamma-ray, X-ray, infrared, and radio observations of M82 to untangle how cosmic rays and magnetic fields shape its energetic core.