One trillion Gauss – Probably the strongest magnetic field ever

The strongest in the universe One trillion Gauss – Probably the strongest magnetic field ever

2024-03-21 From Michael Richter | Translated by AI 1 min Reading Time

At the US research facility, the Brookhaven National Laboratory, the strongest magnetic field in the universe was likely generated. This even exceeds the flux density of neutron stars, which have "only" about one hundred trillion Gauss.

The experiment has proven: Super strong magnetic fields leave an imprint on nuclear matter.(Image: Brookhaven National Laboratory) — The experiment has proven: Super strong magnetic fields leave an imprint on nuclear matter.
(Image: Brookhaven National Laboratory)

The STAR collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), a particle accelerator of the US Department of Energy (DOE) at Brookhaven National Laboratory, has now created the strongest magnetic field ever. With 10¹⁸, that is, a trillion Gauss (100 billion Tesla), the US researchers have even surpassed the flux density of neutron stars (10¹⁴ Gauss, or 10 billion Tesla). To achieve this, the scientists created magnetic fields through eccentric collisions of heavy atomic nuclei, such as gold. The effect arises because ions (atoms or molecules with electrical charge) move past each other at nearly the speed of light, and some of the protons and neutrons that make up the atomic nuclei enter into a kind of vortex motion.

For comparison:

Earth's magnetic field at the equator: ~30 microtesla (µT)
Refrigerator magnet: ~1 millitesla (mT)
Medical MRI machine: 1.5 - 3 Tesla (T)
Neodymium-Iron-Boron (NdFeB) permanent magnet: ~1.4 Tesla (T)
Laboratory electromagnet: Up to 100 Tesla (T)

Not permanent

Unfortunately, the magnetic field is not really usable. Due to its short duration of just 10^-23 seconds, or 10 yoctoseconds, it serves exclusively as evidence of a theory. This theory was, in fact, the proof of the conductivity of quark-gluon plasma (QGP). Quark-gluon plasma is a state of matter that occurs under extremely high temperatures and densities. Here, quarks and gluons (i.e., the building blocks of protons and neutrons) exist freely in this plasma state and are no longer bound in hadrons. This state represents the conditions of the early universe shortly after the Big Bang, before the quarks and gluons joined together into hadrons, from which the matter as we know it is made. (mr)

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