Researchers at York University provided experimental evidence that stars may generate sound

Researchers at York University of Britain provided experimental evidence that stars may generate sound. The findings were published Physical Review Letters in March 2015.

The research was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.

Main findings of the Study
• When ultra-intense laser interacts with plasma target, the interfering plasma generates a series of pressure pulses, that is, sounds.
• In the trillionth of a second when a laser strikes, plasma flowed from areas of high density to areas of low density
• The spot where the low-density and high-density areas meet, called by researchers as traffic jam, generated an apparent sound wave or the sounds of stars
• The sound which was generated was six million times higher than that which can be heard by any mammal

The technique used for the Study

Researchers employed Hydrodynamics, which studies fluids in motion, to make the discovery. The technique used to observe the sound waves in the laboratory were similar to speed cameras deployed by polices. This enabled researchers to accurately measure how the fluid would sound at the point of being struck by the laser at very minute timescales.