No matter how ufologists and science fiction writers try to reassure us, space is a sphere of enormous distances, and the paths in it are millennia. The factor of personality in comparison with these paths is enormously small. The will of one person before these distances does not mean anything. And with bitterness, you may have to admit: space is not for man. But this does not prevent us from looking for ways to understand what is happening in the Universe, using the discoveries made on Earth. Such, for example, as the Compton effect.
The language of light and mathematics
Astrophysics explains the world only through light and mathematics; there are almost no other tools at hand for scientists in this specialty. In most cases, the astrophysicist is not able to take a sample or be a direct witness to the process. And only by inconsistencies of theoretical calculation does the scientist establish the truth. Well, relative truth, at the appropriate moment in the development of science. Still inconsistencies? So, there is work for a fellow researcher or student of this scientist.
The essence of the phenomenon
The Compton effect occurs when a high-energy photon collides with an atom (more often with a molecule, because most of the substances on the Earth’s surface are still molecular). So, a photon collides with an atom. In this case, the “injured” side parted with the electrons of the outer shells. The matter is not limited to this only - the radiation wave scattered as a result of the collision changes the frequency, and the classical wave theory cannot understand this phenomenon, the Compton effect.
Historical reference
Occurring events prove Einstein's views on the photon as a particle. The discovery of the effect took place a very long time ago, and Compton received the Nobel Prize for it (namely, in 1927). The discovery of the effect contributed to an understanding of the nature of light, because even the term "photon" was created in 1926. Therefore, colleagues praised Compton's result.
Constants everywhere
Compton’s formula includes trigonometric functions, because the only value that is a variable in this formula is the angle of incidence of the photon. Accordingly, the whole equation can be reduced to one constant 2, 42, which is multiplied by 10 to minus the twelfth. The unit of measurement is meters, that is, this is an abstract expression of the length of the shift. In fact, it was created just for convenience.
Understand monsters
In astrophysics, the Compton effect is not used, but the effect opposite to it. With the help of knowledge of this physical phenomenon, it became possible to study the so-called black holes. The inverse Compton effect is that electrons moving with light speed in the corona of a black hole collide with low-energy photons and change their frequency. So scientists can establish the characteristics of a black hole, approximately quantify the processes occurring in a pair of merging black holes.
Black holes are not the only "patient" whose features an astrophysicist can study using the Compton effect. Cluster of galaxies is also judged by this phenomenon, since particles passing by photon sources change their frequency. Also, the background radiation, the ancient voice of the Universe, is exposed to the described effect. Perhaps you can understand this world better if you are fond of astrophysics?