雅思阅读 116: The Cosmic Photon That Should Not Exist

Adapted from 'This cosmic particle was never meant to reach Earth', Scientific American, September 2026.

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In 2022, researchers detected a very odd photon from an enormous gamma-ray burst that should have been destroyed on its way to Earth. The tiny particle originated in a burst two billion light-years away. The burst was so bright that researchers nicknamed it BOAT, brightest of all time.

When photons from BOAT reached Earth on October 9, 2022, researchers realized one of them was not like the others. It was detected by Russias Carpet detector and carried about 300 tera-electron-volts of energy, making it the most energetic photon ever observed from a gamma-ray burst, far more powerful than anything produced by the Large Hadron Collider.

According to standard physics, a photon with that much energy should have collided with other light particles from the cosmic microwave background and been destroyed. So how did it survive? In a new paper in Physical Review Letters, a pair of physicists say they may have the answer.

They propose that hypothetical ultralight particles called axionlike particles, combined with the high energy of the photon, allowed it to behave in previously unobserved ways. Essentially, they argue that tiny particles with enormous energy may access the universes fast lane, allowing them to avoid other particles that should absorb and obliterate them.

Under this theory, the super-energetic photon should have arrived at Earth about an hour later than its less energetic counterparts from the same burst. And it turns out that a Chinese observatory did in fact detect less energetic photons an hour earlier than the one picked up in Russia. The timing matches the prediction.

The most interesting aspect is that, for the first time, it brings together two ideas developed separately, says co-author Marco Roncadelli. If future observations confirm this scenario, the universe would become a natural laboratory for studying quantum gravity at energies far higher than any Earth accelerator can reach.

Questions 1-5

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

1. When was the odd photon detected? A. October 9, 2022 B. September 8, 2026 C. October 9, 2021 D. November 1, 2022
2. How far away was the gamma-ray burst? A. 2 million light-years B. 2 billion light-years C. 200 light-years D. 20 billion light-years
3. How much energy did the photon carry? A. 300 electron volts B. 300 tera-electron-volts C. 3 billion electron volts D. 3 tera-electron-volts
4. According to standard physics, what should have happened to the photon? A. It should have arrived faster B. It should have been destroyed by microwave background light C. It should have split into two D. Nothing unusual
5. What did a Chinese observatory detect? A. Nothing B. Less energetic photons an hour earlier C. More energetic photons D. The same photon

Questions 6-10

Do the following statements agree with the information? Write TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN.

6. The burst was called BOAT.
7. The photon was detected by the Large Hadron Collider.
8. Axionlike particles are hypothetical.
9. The timing of arrival matched the theory.
10. The study was published in Nature.

Questions 11-13

Complete the summary. Choose ONE WORD ONLY.

The 300 TeV photon should have been 1 by microwave background light. Physicists propose 2 particles helped it survive. The high-energy photon arrived about an 3 later than lower-energy ones.

Answers

1. A 2. B 3. B 4. B 5. B
2. TRUE 7. FALSE 8. TRUE 9. TRUE 10. FALSE
3. destroyed 12. axionlike 13. hour

Key Vocabulary

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