‘Fireballs’ at CERN as a model for cosmic plasma jets from blazars

An international team of scientists, led by the University of Oxford, has achieved a world-first by creating plasma 'fireballs' using the Super Proton Synchrotron accelerator at CERN, to study the stability of plasma jets emanating from blazars. Thibault Vieu from the group of Brian Reville at MPIK assisted the experiment in the set up and data acquisition. Both also contributed to the astrophysical interpretation aspects of this work. The results, published in PNAS, could shed new light on a long-standing mystery about the Universe’s hidden magnetic fields and missing gamma rays.

Original publication:

Suppression of pair beam instabilities in a laboratory analogue of blazar pair cascades
Charles D. Arrowsmith, Francesco Miniati, Pablo J. Bilbao, Pascal Simon, Archie F. A. Bott, Stephane Burger, Hui Chen, Filipe D. Cruz, Tristan Davenne, Anthony Dyson, Ilias Efthymiopoulos, Dustin H. Froula, Alice Goillot, Jon T. Gudmundsson, Dan Haberberger, Jack W. D. Halliday, Tom Hodge, Brian T. Huffman, Sam Iaquinta, G. Marshall, Brian Reville, Subir Sarkar, Alexander A. Schekochihin, Luis O. Silva, Raspberry Simpson, Vasiliki Stergiou, Raoul M. G. M. Trines, Thibault Vieu, Nikolaos Charitonidis, Robert Bingham and Gianluca Gregori
PNAS, Volume 122, e2513365122 (November 2025). DOI: pnas.2513365122 

Weblinks:

News item at the University of Oxford

Group 'Astrophysical Plasma Theory' at MPIK

Contact

Dr. Brian Reville
MPI für Kernphysik
Phone: +49 6221 516 589

Dr. Thibault Vieu
MPI für Kernphysik
Phone: +49 6221 516 584

Press & Public Outreach

Dr. Renate Hubele / PD Dr. Bernold Feuerstein
Phone: +49 6221 516-651 / +49 6221 516-281

[Translate to English:]
In the heart of an active galaxy, matter falling towards a supermassive black hole generates plasma jets at almost the speed of light. These are considered as a source of intense gamma radiation. If the beam points towards Earth, it is called a blazar. Graphics: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20135/